What are the main components of activated carbon?

Activated carbon is black powdery or blocky, granular, honeycomb-shaped amorphous carbon, as well as regular crystalline carbon.

In addition to carbon, activated carbon also contains two types of admixtures: one is chemically combined elements, mainly oxygen and hydrogen, these elements are left in the carbon due to incomplete carbonization, or in the activation process, foreign Non-carbon elements are chemically combined with the surface of activated carbon;

Another type of admixture is ash, which is the inorganic part of activated carbon. Ash in activated carbon is likely to cause secondary pollution. Activated carbon is widely used in production and life due to its strong adsorption.

Activated carbon characteristics:

Chemical characteristics:

The adsorption of activated carbon is not only physical adsorption, but also chemical adsorption. The adsorbability of activated carbon depends on both the pore structure and the chemical composition.

Activated carbon not only contains carbon, but also contains a small amount of oxygen and hydrogen that are chemically combined and functional groups, such as carbonyl, carboxyl, phenols, lactones, quinones, and ethers.

Some of the oxides and complexes contained on the surface are derived from raw materials, and some are generated by the action of air or water vapor during and after activation.

Sometimes surface sulfides and chlorides are generated. In the activation, the minerals contained in the raw materials are concentrated in the activated carbon to become ash. The main components of the ash are the salts of alkali metals and alkaline earth metals, such as carbonates and phosphates.

Mechanical characteristics:

1. Particle size: Using a standard sieve sieving method, the weight of activated carbon remaining in and passing through each sieve is calculated to indicate the particle size distribution.

2. Static density or bulk density: it should be the weight of activated carbon per unit volume of pore volume and void volume between particles.

3. Bulk density and particle density: the weight of activated carbon per unit volume should be the pore volume rather than the void volume between particles.

4. Strength: It is the crush resistance of activated carbon.

5. Wear resistance: the performance of wear resistance or friction resistance.

These mechanical properties directly affect the application of activated carbon, such as: density affects the size of the container; the thickness of powdered carbon affects filtration; the particle size distribution of granular carbon affects fluid resistance and pressure drop; fragmentation affects the service life of activated carbon and waste carbon regeneration.