Effect of hydrogen on the mesopore development of pitch-based spherical activated carbon containing iron during activation by steam Original Research Article

In the present paper, pitch-based spherical activated carbon (PSAC) was activated by steam under various carrier gases such as nitrogen, mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen (H2/N2: 1/3 mol/mol) and pure hydrogen. The results showed that hydrogen inhibited the uncatalyzed C–H2O reaction while accelerated the iron-catalyzed one. Furthermore, the effects of hydrogen became much more remarkable as the proportion of hydrogen increased. In this case, the ratio of mesopore volume of the resultant PSAC increased, but the micropore volume and micropore surface area decreased remarkably. The ratio of mesopore could reach more than 90%, and the mesopore mainly distributed at 10–50 nm. Thus, the PSAC with higher ratio of mesopore can be prepared by the aid of hydrogen as well as iron.