Potassium hydroxide activation of activated carbon: a commentary

Copyright © Korean Carbon Society http://carbonlett.org Over the years, the furnace has been used as a common heating method to manufacture activated carbon. In a furnace, heat is transferred through conduction and convection. The outer surface of the sample is in contact with the generated heat, which slowly diffuses inwards as a result of the thermal gradient between the surface and the core of the material’s particles. Another method of heating employs microwave irradiation. Even though it is less energyand time-consuming, the microwave method has several critical issues with respect to temperature control and thermal runaway, especially in the scaling-up of the microwave heating process 1. Generally, the activation of a carbonaceous precursor can be performed through physical (steam, air or CO2) or chemical activation (activators such as ZnCl2, KOH, etc.) or a combination of both. The chemical activation is normally preferable over physical activation since it is a faster process with a lower activation temperature. Moreover, the activated carbon produced via chemical activation usually possesses high specific surface area (as determined by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller, BET method), good pore development and high carbon yield 2,3. In recent years, potassium salts such as KOH and K2CO3 have been widely used in the manufacture of low cost activated carbon. It has been found that activated carbon prepared by KOH activation is highly microporous when compared to that produced through ZnCl2 or H3PO4 activation 4-6. Besides, KOH also enhances the specific surface area and the formation of—OH functional groups on the carbon surface 7. Over the past 5 years, many advantages of KOH activation have been revealed in the literature 8. However, the adverse drawbacks of employing KOH have been overlooked in many of the published studies. In this paper, the preparation of activated carbon by KOH activation using conventional heating is reviewed and discussed. The limitations and implications of using KOH in the activation process are highlighted. The selection of appropriate potassium salts for activated carbon preparation is also recommended. The physical preparation of activated carbon is comprised of two major processes, namely, carbonization and activation of the carbonized sample 4. Chemical activation is a single step process, as both carbonization and activation occur simultaneously at temperatures ranging between 400oC and 700oC, which is lower than that of physical activation 9. However, in some cases, additional carbonization or a pre-carbonization step is performed to produce char prior to chemical impregnation and activation 5,4,10-13. Thus, potassium hydroxide activation can be achieved through either direct chemical activation or char-impregnated chemical activation. In direct chemical activation, a selected carbonaceous precursor is first dried overnight to remove moisture and then chemically treated at a desired impregnation ratio (weight of KOH over weight of precursor). The impregnated solid is then heated in a furnace at a specified temperature and time. Carbonization of the precursor is often omitted when the impregnated solid is already suitable for activation. Table 1 exhibits recently developed activated carbon preparation methods using various precursors and KOH activation with conventional heating. From Table 1, it can be seen that DOI: http://dx.doi.org/ DOI:10.5714/CL.2015.16.4.275