Synthesis of activated carbon from Rio Turbio sub-bituminous coal

MARIANO CRISTALDI; MISAEL CORDOBA ARROYO; JUAN BADANO; PEDRO DE CARLI; ERNESTO HAGGI; MABEL BREGLIANI; CARLOS VERA

San Luis Potosí

Congreso; VIII CONGRESO INTERNACIONAL Y XVII CONGRESO MEXICANO DE CATÁLISIS; 2021

Academia Mexicana de Catalisis

Coal from Río Turbio (Santa Cruz, Argentina) is an abundant resource that has not been used for theproduction of activated carbon. It is classified as a sub bituminous carbon, with high content of both ash and volatile matter which would limit its use as adsorbent. In this work, different techniques are tested to increase the percentage of fixed carbon, to decrease ash content and to develop a porous structure. Those techniques include heat treatment in an inert atmosphere, demineralization by acid extraction and water washing, and steam activation at gasification temperatures. The obtained materials are characterized using several techniques (XRD, TPO, FTIR, iodine number, methylene blue number, ICP-OES).A screening of process conditions shows that pyrolysis at 650 °C is effective to stabilize the structure and reduce volatile matter, activation at 850 °C and a vapor:carbon ratio of 2 g g-1 produce activated carbon with satisfactory characteristics (iodine number: 513-573 mgI2 gC-1; methylene blue index: 56-124 mgMB gC-1). Moreover, water or acid washes slightly decrease the final ash content, indicating that the mineral material would be dispersed in the carbonaceous matrix and it would not be accessible. The results suggest commercial viability of the synthesized product.