• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.129-137
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• 2013

From the cooked-rice as a raw material, activated carbons throughout a hydrothermal synthesis and vacuum soak of KOH for chemical activation were obtained. Activated carbon electrodes for electric double layer supercapacitors were prepared and electrochemical characteristics were examined. Including the specific surface area by BET method and pore size distribution by NLDFT method, physical properties of activated carbons were investigated by means of SEM, EDS, XRD, and TG analyses. Cycle voltammetry and AC-impedance measurements were conducted to confirm the electrochemical characteristics for the electrodes. From hydrothermal synthesis, $5{\sim}7{\mu}m$ diameters of spherical carbons were obtained. After the activation at $800^{\circ}C$, it was notable for the activated carbon to be the specific surface $1631.8cm^2/g$, pore size distribution in 0.9~2.1 nm, and micro-pore volume $0.6154cm^3/g$. As electrochemical characteristics of the activated carbon electrode in 6M KOH electrolyte, it was confirmed that the specific capacitances of 236, 194, and 137 F/g at the scan rate of 5, 100, and 500 mV/s respectively were exhibited and 91.2% of initial capacitance after 100,000 cycles at 200 mV/s was maintained.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.466-474
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• 2018

The high theoretical energy density ($2600Wh\;kg^{-1}$) of Lithium-sulfur batteries and the high theoretical capacity of elemental sulfur ($1672mAh\;g^{-1}$) attract significant research attention. However, the poor electrical conductivity of sulfur and the polysulfide shuttle effect are chronic problems resulting in low sulfur utilization and poor cycling stability. In this study, we address these problems by coating a polyethylene separator with a layer of activated carbon powder. A lithium-sulfur cell containing the activated carbon powder-coated separator exhibits an initial specific discharge capacity of $1400mAh\;g^{-1}$ at 0.1 C, and retains 63% of the initial capacity after 100 cycles at 0.2 C, whereas the equivalent cell with a bare separator exhibits a $1200mAh\;g^{-1}$ initial specific discharge capacity, and 50% capacity retention under the same conditions. The activated carbon powder-coated separator also enhances the rate capability. These results indicate that the microstructure of the activated carbon powder layer provides space for the sulfur redox reaction and facilitates fast electron transport. Concurrently, the activated carbon powder layer traps and reutilizes any polysulfides dissolved in the electrolyte. The approach presented here provides insights for overcoming the problems associated with lithium-sulfur batteries and promoting their practical use.

• Carbon letters
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.187-191
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• 2002

In the present research, we prepared the activated carbon (AC) sorbents to remove gas-phase mercury. The mercury adsorption of virgin AC, chemically treated AC and fly ash was performed. Sulfur impregnated and sulfuric acid impregnated ACs were used as the chemically treated ACs. A simulated flue gas was made of SOx, NOx and mercury vapor in nitrogen balance. A reduced mercury adsorption capacity was obtained with the simulated gas as compared with that containing only mercury vapor in nitrogen. With the simulated gas, the sulfuric acid treated AC showed the highest performance, but it might have the problem of corrosion due to the emission of sulfuric acid. It was also found that the high sulfur impregnated AC also released a portion of sulfur at $140^{\circ}C$. Thus, it was concluded that the low sulfur impregnated AC was suitable for the treatment of flue gas in terms of stability and efficiency.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.669-675
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• 2006

Toluene of aromatic compounds, MEK of ketones and IPA of alcohols were extremely used as VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) on the getting into step with industrial process. The adsorption characteristics of three component solvent vapors (Toluene-MEK-IPA) on the activated carbonaceous adsorbents such as AC, ACF and AC+ACF were investigated in a stainless steel fixed bed adsorption experimental apparatus in order to identify those carbons for eliminating and recovering solvent vapors from industrial emission sources. The used activated carbonaceous adsorbents were pelletized commercial activated carbon and activated carbon fiber. The breakthrough curves and adsorption capacity have been obtained at atmospheric pressure in a adsorption fixed bed. It has been found that non-polar and larger molecules have been adsorbed better than polar and smaller molecules. Especially, alcohols and ketones were poorly adsorbed due to competitive adsorbability in ternary mixture system. However, it could be overcome by employment of activated carbonaceous adsorbent which have different porosity distribution appropriately.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.477-493
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• 2016

Immediate use of activated carbon incorporated polysulfone membrane application for dye separation was reported in this work. Dimethylformamide (DMF) was used as the solvent for the membrane preparation. The membrane thus prepared were characterized in terms of surface morphology, ATR-FTIR, AFM, experimental results as membrane performance. The resultant nanofiltration (NF) membranes were tested with Congo red dye concentration 200 mg/L. The water permeability was found to be considerably higher than that reported in literature. Experimental results show that the real rejection of the Congo red is 99.57% over the transmembrane pressure 100 psi using 30% activated carbon incorporated membrane. Prepared NF membranes shows the corresponding permeates fluxes were $40Lm^{-2}h^{-1}$ to $82Lm^{-2}h^{-1}$ with different activated carbon percentage incorporated in polysulfone membrane. The present study demonstrated that dye rejection enhanced NF may be a feasible method for the dye wastewater treatment. The overall observations thus indicated that toxic residual dyes can be appreciably separated from the membrane technology, provided that the accompanying polymeric membrane, activated carbon as binding agents and the process parameter levels are astutely selected.

• Carbon letters
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• v.20
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• pp.47-52
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• 2016

Physical and electrochemical qualities were analyzed after KOH activation of a direct methanol fuel cell using needle coke as anode supporter. The results of research on support loaded with platinum-ruthenium suggest that an activated KOH needle coke container has the lowest onset potential and the highest degree of catalyst activity among all commercial catalysts. Through an analysis of the CO stripping voltammetry, we found that KOH activated catalysis showed a 21% higher electrochemical active surface area (ECSA), with a value of 31.37 m² /g, than the ECSA of deactivated catalyst (25.82 m² /g). The latter figure was 15% higher than the value of one specific commercial catalyst (TEC86E86).

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.250-260
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• 2007

It was investigated that the emission characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from small and medium companies located on industrial complexes in Metropolitan area. The emission characteristics are intermittent sources in which VOCs emissions are highly depends on the working condition. Optimized ventilation system to improve air quality in working area for the three typical companies were installed. Adsorption characteristics of major VOCs such as MEK, IPA, and toluene emitted front the companies were investigated for design of the activated carbon vessel as a VOCs control facility in each company. Concentration of total hydrocarbon and gas amounts needed to ventilation were also used as a design parameter. Mixed adsorbent to improve adsorption characteristics of problematic solvents like IPA and the design guideline of the activated carbon vessel have been suggested.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.493-500
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• 2008

This paper describes the adsorption/desorpton efficiency of a modified activated carbon by irradiated microwave to treat toluene. By employing microwave energy, the regeneration time was considerably shortened compared with conventional thermal heating regeneration. New adsorbent called ACB (Activated Carbon-Bentonite) was prepared from powder activated carbon with mixing bentonite as a binder. Specific surface area, average pore size and total pore volume of ACB were calculated from the nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherm. The surface of ACB was characterized with scanning electron microscope(SEM). The results showed that the specific surface area, total pore volume, average pore size of ABC was not influenced by regenerating cycle with microwave irradiation. Toluene was adsorbed onto ACB which desorbed by MW irradiation. Absorption capacity of ACB was 0.117 $g_{toluene}/g_{ACB}$. Desorption efficiency of toluene increased as higher microwave output was applied.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.3183-3189
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• 2010

In order to increase the specific capacitance and energy density of supercapacitors, non-aqueous supercapacitors were prepared using lithium transition-metal oxides and activated carbons as active materials. The electrochemical properties were analyzed in terms of the content of lithium transition-metal oxides. The results of cyclic voltammetry and AC-impedance analyses showed that the pseudocapacitance may stem from the synergistic contributions of capacitive and faradic effects; the former is due to the electric double layer which is prepared in the interface of activated carbon and organic electrolyte, and the latter is due to the intercalation of lithium ($Li^+$) ions. The specific capacitance and energy density of a supercapacitor improved as the lithium transition-metal oxides content increased, showing 60% increase compared to those of supercapacitor using a pure activated carbon positive electrode.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.20-29
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• 2014

The present study investigated the effects of thermal pre-treatment on the enhancement of anaerobic biodegradability of waste activated sludge at varied TS concentration levels. The activated sludges were thermally oxidized for 30 minutes at $80{\sim}200^{\circ}C$ with varied TS concentrations (2%, 4% and 6%). and then, sludge characteristics, solubilization efficiency and methane production yield of thermally pre-treated sludges were analyzed. The higher the temperature in the thermal pre-treatment, the higher the concentration levels of dissolved matters such as $SCOD_{Cr}$, $NH_4{^+}$ and VFAs, which indicates that the thermal pre-treatment facilitates the hydrolysis and acid fermentation. Furthermore, the solubilization efficiency was increased in proportion to the temperature rise at all TS concentrations and was reached at 68.9%, 55.6% and 53.1%, respectively, at $200^{\circ}C$. In the BMP test of the pre-treated sludges, higher methane production yields were observed as 0.313. 0.314 and $0.299m^3\;CH_4/kg\;VS_{add}$ at the condition of TS 2% ($160^{\circ}C$), 4% ($160^{\circ}C$) and 6% ($180^{\circ}C$), respectively, and degradation rate was increased by 84%, 79% and 65% compared with non-pretreated waste activated sludge. These findings suggest the effectiveness of thermal pre-treatment of waste activated sludge for anaerobic biodegradable process.