3.1 Phosphoric acid addition
The XRD patterns of different phosphate additions are shown in Fig. 1, with two peaks at approximately 24° and 44°, corresponding to the (002) and (100) crystal planes of the graphite structure, indicating that the material has been graphitized. This may be due to the high heat treatment temperature during the preparation of amorphous carbon, resulting in partial graphitization of the material, which belongs to partially graphitized amorphous carbon. The peak that appears around 26℃ is the SiO2 peak generated during the preparation process.
N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms of activated carbon with different amounts of phosphoric acid are shown in Fig. 2, showing that the prepared material shows type I and type IV binding isotherms. The rapid adsorption in the low-pressure region belongs to type I, and the adsorption in the middle and high-pressure region belongs to type IV, and the H4 type hysteresis loop appears. This can be attributed to the existence of a narrow mesoporous structure of the adsorbent studied, which is a micro mesoporous material. In addition, the differences in the performance of several samples in areas with relatively low pressure (P /P0 < 0.2) are not significant, while the size of hysteresis loops varies, indicating that the main difference between different samples is the degree of mesoporous development. In Table 1, the saturated adsorption capacity of toluene shows a trend of first increasing and then decreasing with the mass fraction of phosphoric acid, with the highest adsorption capacity at AC-30%. It can be seen that AC-30% has the most developed pore structure and adsorption capacity, with a specific surface area of 826m2/g, pore volume of 0.496cm3/g, average pore size of 2.4nm, and saturated adsorption capacity of 438.9mg/g.
Table 1
Pore structure parameters of activated carbon with different amounts of phosphoric acid
Adsorbents | Surface area(m2/g) | Pore volume(cm3/g) | Average pore size(nm) | Adsorption quantity(mg/g) |
AC-20% | 675.2 | 0.414 | 2.46 | 372.1 |
AC-30% | 826.0 | 0.496 | 2.4 | 438.9 |
AC-40% | 748.0 | 0.478 | 2.56 | 424.9 |
AC-50% | 709.4 | 0.453 | 2.56 | 391.7 |
3.2 solid-liquid ratio
The materials prepared in Fig. 3 still have the combination isotherm of type I and type IV, and the hysteresis loop of type H4 appears, and the size of the hysteresis loop is different, indicating that different solid-liquid ratio has a certain impact on the pore structure, but it is still a micro mesoporous material. The prepared material shows the best performance when the solid-liquid ratio is 1:2 in Table 2. Its specific surface area can reach 826m2/g, pore volume is 0.496cm3/g, average pore size is 2.4nm, and saturated adsorption capacity is 442.1mg/g.
Table 2
Pore structure parameters of activated carbon with different solid-liquid ratios
Adsorbents | Surface area(m2/g) | Pore volume(cm3/g) | Average pore size(nm) | Adsorption quantity(mg/g) |
AC-1:1 | 547.4 | 0.352 | 2.58 | 357.9 |
AC-1:2 | 826.0 | 0.496 | 2.4 | 442.1 |
AC-1:3 | 692.1 | 0.451 | 2.6 | 380.5 |
AC-1:4 | 529.5 | 0.412 | 2.78 | 335.1 |
3.3 Activation temperature
The XRD patterns of activated carbon at different activation temperatures show that the amorphous carbon prepared at different temperatures is still partially graphitized, indicating that temperature has a significant impact on pore structure, but has a smaller impact on crystal structure as shown in Fig. 4. When the activation temperature is 400 ℃, the prepared material exhibits a combined isotherm of type I and type IV, and exhibits a standard H4 hysteresis loop; When the activation temperature is 600 ℃, a type II or III isotherm appears, indicating that the pore structure collapses due to excessive temperature in Fig. 5, which belongs to non-porous or macroporous materials.
The prepared activated carbon expresses the best effect when the activation temperature is 400 ℃ in Table 3 and Fig. 6, with a specific surface area of 826m2/g, pore volume of 0.496cm3/g, average pore size of 2.4nm, and the maximum saturated adsorption capacity of 438.9mg/g at 400 ℃. When the temperature is 400 ℃, the adsorption performance is the best, and the longest adsorption penetration time is shown in Fig. 7 and Table 4, reaching adsorption saturation at 150 minutes.
Table 3
Pore structure parameters of activated carbon at different activation temperatures
Adsorbents | Surface area(m2/g) | Pore volume(cm3/g) | Average pore size(nm) | Adsorption quantity(mg/g) |
AC-300 | 301.6 | 0.235 | 3.12 | 205.2 |
AC-400 | 826.0 | 0.496 | 2.4 | 431.0 |
AC-500 | 395.6 | 0.265 | 2.68 | 200.9 |
AC-600 | 73.6 | 0.109 | 5.9 | 93.3 |
AC-700 | 89.8 | 0.118 | 6.18 | 87.7 |
Table 4
Dynamic adsorption data table
Adsorbents | Breakout time(min) | Saturation time(min) | Adsorption capacity (mg/g) |
AC-300 | 10 | 90 | 205.2 |
AC-400 | 70 | 150 | 431.0 |
AC-500 | 10 | 80 | 200.9 |
3.4 Activation time
XRD patterns of different activation times are shown in Fig. 8, which shows that amorphous carbon prepared at different activation times has little difference in crystal structure, and the impurity peaks are the least when the activation time is 30min.
The infrared spectrum of activated carbon prepared with activation time of 30min and 60min is shown in Fig. 9, which shows that the absorption peak attributed to OH is formed at 3429cm− 1, the stretching vibration absorption peak of -CH3 at 2918cm− 1, and the chelating carbonyl absorption peak at 1594cm− 1. 1173cm− 1 is a C-O stretching vibration. With the increase of activation time, the peak height of C-O absorption increased, indicating that the content of C-O in AC-60min was higher than that in AC-30min.
N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms of activated carbon at different activation temperatures are presented in Fig. 10, and their specific areas and pore volumes are listed in Table 5. As presented in Fig. 10, the N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms with a type I in the relative pressure range of 0-0.4, with a type IV with a H4 hysteresis loop in the relative pressure range of 0.4–1.0, which shows that the adsorbents have microporous and slit like mesoporous structures. When the activation temperature is 30min, the pore structure is the most developed, the specific surface area is 1037.7 m2/g, the pore volume is 0.568cm3/g, and the average pore size is 2.18nm.
Table 5
Pore structure parameters of activated carbon at different activation times
Adsorbents | Surface area(m2/g) | Pore volume(cm3/g) | Average pore size(nm) |
AC-15min | 984.4 | 0.562 | 2.28 |
AC-30min | 1037.7 | 0.568 | 2.18 |
AC-45min | 868.7 | 0.518 | 2.38 |
AC-60min | 826.0 | 0.496 | 2.4 |
It was found that the maximum saturated adsorption capacity of activated carbon is 487.3mg/g when the activation time is 30 minutes in Fig. 11. The adsorption penetration time is the longest when the activation time is 30 minutes as shown in Fig. 12, and toluene can be completely adsorbed within 70 minutes, gradually reaching adsorption saturation within 70–150 minutes.
Through the above experiments and analysis, the optimum preparation conditions of activated carbon are as follows: phosphoric acid content 30%, solid-liquid ratio 1:2, activation temperature 400℃, activation time 30min. Table 6 shows the organic element analysis of the optimal activated carbon, which shows a carbon content of 55.73%, mainly due to incomplete carbonization and activation, resulting in lower carbon content.
Table 6
Organic element content table of the BAC
Adsorbents | C (%) | H (%) | S (%) | N (%) |
BAC | 55.73 | 2.701 | 0.168 | 0.58 |
As can be seen from Fig. 13, as the number of cycles increases, the saturated adsorption capacity of activated carbon decreases, and the time required for complete desorption increases successively. After three sorption and desorption experiments, activated carbon can still have good adsorption properties.
Figure 14 shows the adsorption capacity of BACs that have reached adsorption saturation after desorption for 2 hours at 50 ℃, 80 ℃, and 120 ℃, followed by three cycles. It can be seen that with the increase of desorption temperature, the saturated adsorption capacity increases gradually, and with the increase of regeneration times, the saturated adsorption capacity decreases gradually. The reason is that toluene blocks some micropores, making it difficult to desorb, resulting in a decrease in its adsorption capacity, while as the temperature increases, the movement of toluene molecules becomes stronger, making it easier to detach from the pores. When the desorption temperature is 120 ℃, after three adsorption and desorption cycles, the regeneration adsorption capacity can still reach over 80%, indicating good regeneration performance.