Preparation of activated carbon microspheres from phenolic-resin by supercritical water activation

Supercritical water (SCW) has been employed as an efficient activating agent for the preparation of activated carbon microspheres (P-ACS) with developed mesopores from phenolic-resin. Several processing factors that influenced the activation reaction, including activation temperature, activation duration, supercritical pressure and water flow rate were investigated. Increasing activation temperature and duration lead to larger porosity and higher specific surface area as demonstrated in the samples. Supercritical pressure change has little effect on the activation; however, there are indications that a slight increase in mesoporosity can be obtained when the pressure was raised to 36 MPa or higher. Higher water flow rate slightly enhanced the development of microporosity but had little effect on the mesoporosity. Compared with the traditional steam activation, SCW activation can produce P-ACS with more mesoporosity and higher mechanical strength.