XLV.—The activation of wood-charcoal by heat treatment

ENGINEERING, DESIGN, AND PROCESS DEVELOPMENT SECTION Activation of Carbons

“…Other gases were also used to desulfurize carbon-sulfur complexes (19,25). In order of decreasing effectiveness, these were chlorine, steam, and air, but detailed data on their use are not presented in this paper because all were definitely inferior to hydrogen.…”

“…The possibility of using inert gases to activate charcoals has generally been denied (4,25,27,88). The data cited in those cases, however, were generally not obtained under conditions conducive to good inert gas activation and are, therefore, not in disagreement with either the present work nor with the interpretation that the mechanism is one of mechanically aiding the removal of hydrogenous material.…”

“…The data cited in those cases, however, were generally not obtained under conditions conducive to good inert gas activation and are, therefore, not in disagreement with either the present work nor with the interpretation that the mechanism is one of mechanically aiding the removal of hydrogenous material. Furthermore, the adsorptive test used by one of the early workers (25) was to measure sulfur dioxide adsorption at 0°C ., just 10°C. above its boiling point.…”

“…In addition to gasifying most of the hydrogen originally present in the raw material, the oxidizing gases commonly used react with a large part of the carbon itself. The yields of adsorptive carbon suitable for gas adsorption which can be obtained by conventional steam activation are only from 15 to 50% of the weight of the original charcoal, and usually fall between 25 and 30% (1,8,7,16, 84). For carbons used in certain liquid-phase adsorption applications, optimum activity is not a primary requisite and higher steam activation yields are satisfactory.…”