Characterization of Chlorinated Tire‐Derived Mesoporous Activated Carbon for Adsorptive Removal of Toluene: Fid-Bau Portal

Characterization of Chlorinated Tire‐Derived Mesoporous Activated Carbon for Adsorptive Removal of Toluene

Zhu, Jianzhong / Liang, Hao / Fang, Jun / Zhu, Jianguo / Shi, Buchang

A series of chlorinated mesoporous activated carbons were derived from waste tires by pyrolysis, activation, and chlorination at different temperatures. The physical and chemical properties of the samples were studied by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis, Fourier Transform IR Spectroscopy (FT‐IR), point of zero charge measurement, thermogravimetric analysis, and by testing their behavior as adsorbents for toluene removal. Our results showed that the tire‐derived activated carbon samples have highly mesoporous volumes and surface areas, and chlorination treatment has a slight effect on the pore structure. Lewis acidity of the sample increases after chlorination and the chlorine content increases from 0.24 to 2.32% with chlorination temperature increasing from 50 to 400°C. The higher the chlorine content, the more is the toluene adsorption. In comparison with the commercial carbon (F‐400), all the samples have significantly higher adsorption capacity for toluene due to the presence of mesopores, inductive effect of the partial positive chemisorbed chlorine and resonance effects of CCl structures. The mesopores probably render easier diffusion of toluene molecule to inner carbon matrix and the strong π–π interaction between toluene and CCl resonance structure in the carbon significantly affects the interplay bonding process thus enhances the toluene removal.