High value activated carbons from waste polystyrene foams

Activated carbons (AC) with excellent textural properties have been obtained for the first time from waste polystyrene foam (PF), without any previous treatment, following a simple and conventional two-step procedure (formation of char followed by chemical activation). Even considering that the PF i...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Paula, Fabiano G. F. de, Castro, Mateus C. M. de, Ortega, Paulo F.R., Blanco Rodríguez, Clara, Lavall, Rodrigo L., Santamaría Ramírez, Ricardo
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/167660
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/167660
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Polystyrene foam
Activated carbon
Microporous carbon
Adsorption
Methylene blue
Descripción
Sumario:Activated carbons (AC) with excellent textural properties have been obtained for the first time from waste polystyrene foam (PF), without any previous treatment, following a simple and conventional two-step procedure (formation of char followed by chemical activation). Even considering that the PF is not a graphitizable material, the best AC produced from this precursor has a very high BET surface area larger than 2700 m2 g−1 and a pore volume of 1.2 cm2 g−1, with a significant contribution of small mesopores. As a consequence, this AC reveals a surprising capacity to adsorption of relatively large molecules and a high specific capacitance when applied as a supercapacitor electrode. The maximum amount of adsorbed methylene blue obtained by batch equilibrium experiments are greater than 1 g g−1. In the context of the technical difficulties and low economic return of the reuse and recycling of waste PF, this work offers a strategic destination for this environmentally unfriendly residue.