What are the Raw Materials of Activated Carbon?

Activated carbon is prepared from carbon-containing raw materials such as wood, coal and petroleum coke through pyrolysis and activation processing. It has a developed pore structure, a large specific surface area and rich surface chemical groups, and has strong specific adsorption capacity.  

Raw Materials of Activated Carbon:

1. Plant raw materials (woody raw materials)

Activated carbon has a wide range of wood raw materials, and the commonly used ones are: charcoal, coconut shells, sawdust, bark, walnut shells, fruit cores, cotton shells, rice husks, bamboo, coffee bean stems, oil palm shells, furfural residue and pulp waste Liquid etc. Wood raw materials occupy a very important position in my country's activated carbon industry. Among them, coconut shells and walnut shells are the best, but their development is restricted due to limited raw materials.

2. Coal raw materials

Coal is the main raw material for making activated carbon. Activated carbon can be made from almost any coal. Among them, young anthracite, weakly caking coal, lignite and peat with short coal formation time are all excellent raw materials for making activated carbon. Due to the rich coal resources, wide distribution and low price, the production of activated carbon from coal as raw material has good prospects.

3. Plastics include polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, furan resin, phenolic resin, urea-formaldehyde resin, polycarbonate, polytetrafluoroethylene, etc. These raw materials mainly refer to industrial recycling waste, which has not yet been fully utilized in our country.

4. Petroleum raw materials

Petroleum raw materials mainly refer to carbon-containing products and waste materials in the petroleum refining process. For example, petroleum asphalt, petroleum coke, petroleum oil residue, etc. In the early 1990s, the Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, used petroleum-based asphalt with low ash and impurity content (<0.01%) as raw material, and used the KOH chemical activation method to prepare activated carbon with a specific surface area of 3600 m2/g.

Colin is a professional activated carbon manufacturer located in Henan Province, China. We have over 20 years of experience in activated carbon production, and our main products include coconut shell activated carbon, columnar activated carbon, honeycomb activated carbon, and powdered activated carbon. We primarily engage in the research, development, production, and sales of activated carbon. Please feel free to contact us with any questions!