摘要 |
A method for producing self-supporting activated carbon structures is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of mixing a granular activated carbon, a binder material, a carbonization agent, and a liquid to produce a semi-plastic mixture; compacting the mixture using compacting pressures of or greater than about 100 pounds per square inch to form a three-dimensional structure; and heating the structure to an elevated temperature of or greater than about 300° C. to produce a self-supporting activated carbon structure. The granular activated carbon is of any particle size between approximately 4 and 325 mesh U.S. Sieve Series, and the binder is a ground cereal grain, cereal rain flour or a tuber flour. The resultant structure may then be cooled to near-ambient temperatures under an essentially inert atmosphere. Such structures can exhibit good mechanical strengths, adsorption capacities nearly equivalent to those of the activated carbon used in their preparation, and appreciable electrical conductivity. Such structures can also exhibit the chemical inertness, very high temperature tolerance (>1000° C.) in non-oxidizing environments, and the elevated temperature tolerance in mildly oxidizing environments typically associated with activated carbons.
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