title: Characterization of activated carbon prepared from chlorella-based algal residue.
abstract: The chlorella-based microalgal residue (AR) was tested as a novel precursor for preparing activated carbons. A combined carbonization-activation process with flowing N2 and CO2 gases was used to prepare the carbon materials at the activation temperatures of 800-1000 °C and the residence times of 0-30 min in this work. The elemental contents, pore properties and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations of the resulting activated carbons have been performed. The results showed that activation temperature may be the most important parameter for determining their pore properties. The maximal Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area and total pore volume of the resulting activated carbon, which was produced at the activation temperature of 950 °C with the residence time of 30 min, were 840 m(2)/g and 0.46 cm(3)/g, respectively. More interestingly, the resulting activated carbons have significant nitrogen contents of 3.6-9.6 wt%, which make them lower carbon contents (i.e., 54.6-68.4 wt%) than those of commercial activated carbons.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Bioresources, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung 91201, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yuan-Ming
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Bioresources, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung 91201, Taiwan. Electronic address: wttsai@mail.npust.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Wen-Tien
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung 91201, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ming-Hsuan
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D002606:Charcoal / Q000378:metabolism*; D002708:Chlorella / Q000378:metabolism*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry; D016062:Porosity; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D002606:Charcoal; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Activated carbon; Activation temperature; Chlorella residue; Elemental composition; Pore property