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Influence of material properties on the oxidation and ignition characteristics of activated carbons. Thangavelu JAYABALAN, Pascaline PRE and Valérie HEQUET Département Systèmes Energétiques et Environnement GEPEA UMR-CNRS 6144 Ecole des Mines de Nantes, France. Pierre LE CLOIREC
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Influence of material properties on the oxidation and ignition characteristics of activated carbons Thangavelu JAYABALAN, Pascaline PRE and Valérie HEQUET Département Systèmes Energétiques et Environnement GEPEA UMR-CNRS 6144 Ecole des Mines de Nantes, France. Pierre LE CLOIREC Ecole de Chimie de Rennes UMR-CNRS 6226 “Sciences Chimiques de Rennes” Université Européenne de Bretagne, France 9th International conference on Fundamentals Of Adsorption, May 20-25, 2007 Sicily-Italy.
Context • Activated carbons are porous adsorbents used in • Odour control • VOC removal • Recovery of volatile solvents (e.g. benzene, ketones, cyclohexanes) Drawbacks Fire hazards (oxidation and ignition) encountered in • Activated carbon beds in service and idle condition • Handling and regeneration of spent carbon • Transportation
Incidents with activated carbons March- 2001 Canada Fire in a consignment of activated carbon pellets (Kitano vessel of the coast of Nova Scotia) August-2000 Grasse (France) Fire in 2 tons of activated carbons for decolorising gases - Pharmacheutical industry. December-1998 Limas (France) Fire in activated carbon filter used for adsorbing the VOC’s - Agrochemical industry January-1998 Givors (France) Ignition of the activated carbon filter to adsorb VOC’s in an industry treating special wastes Container fire of Kitano vessel of Nova Scotia - Marine investigation report M01M0017 Transport safety board of Canada
Objectives • To assess the physical and chemical properties influencing the thermal stability of activated carbons under a given condition • Establish statistical correlation's between the oxidation and ignition characteristics of activated carbons and their physical and chemical properties
Local warming (external heating, exothermic adsorption) Exposure to oxidants (oxygen, air) • Low temperature oxidation • Chemical transformation of the material, gaseous emissions • High temperature oxidation • Self ignition of the material and combustion, gaseous emissions Mechanisms of Oxidation and Ignition of activated carbons • Complex process which takes place in a wide range of temperatures. Self heating
Materials: Activated carbons tested * CTP-PAN samples -LCSM Nancy,France
650°C Ramp 5 °C/min Isotherm 30 minutes Isotherm 5 minutes 105°C 100°C Experimental Studies: Oxidation of activated carbons ATG-DSC Setaram-111 Analyser • Simultaneous measurement of heat flux and mass. • Experimental parameters • Gas flow rate: 1 L/hr • Sample mass 3mg • Heating range : 20° C - 600 °C • Heating rate : 5K/min • Gas used : He/O2 (79/21mixture ) Temperature Programmation 20°C
SIT PIO Experimental Studies: Oxidation of activated carbons • Point of initial oxidation Denotes the start of oxidation reaction at low temperature, obtained from the deviation of the heat flux curve from the baseline • Spontaneous Ignition Temperature • Point corresponds to the auto-inflammation with the decrease in the mass of the sample by the way of consumption
Results Qualitative analysis: Effect of oxygen content • Oxygen content source - surface oxygenated groups bonded to edge sites and material of origin • Interaction of surface oxygenated complex with air CO2 , CO, H2O, intermediate complex and exothermic heat Exceptions : NC-50, NC-60 and NC-100 (Physically activated coconut shell) Reasons: Higher ash content (potassium) catalyzing the oxidation and ignition reactions (Bandosz & van der Merwe) Increased affinity for chemisorption of oxygen Our hypothesis is to look into the structural properties
Qualitative analysis: Effect of nitrogen content • General trends nitrogen rich samples have higher PIO and SIT • Thermally stable nitrogen substituted in the carbon ring system • Trend could not be established alone as nitrogen was associated with oxygen • The effect of (O/C) dominant than (N/C)
Temperature Programmed Desorption studies • Temperature programmed desorption was carried out in TG-DSC apparatus • Oxygenated complex partly removed by the application of heat using helium gas • Approximately 10 -11 % decrease in oxygen to carbon ratio (chemically activated carbons) • Temperature Programmed Oxidation (TPO) for measuring PIO and SIT
Temperature Programmed Desorption studies • The oxidation and ignition temperature increased after TPD • Significant increase is found in PIO than SIT • TPD studies showed that surface oxygenated groups actively involve in the initiation of oxidation reactions.
600 400 2 R = 0,90 SIT °C 200 SIT Vs O/C after TPD 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 (O/C) % Effect of Oxygen content after TPD studies • Linear tendency observed for (O/C) versus SIT and PIO for samples subjected to TPD • (O/C) identified as important parameter influencing oxidation and ignition of activated carbons
Qualitative analysis: Effect of porosity characteristics on PIO & SIT • The effect of SBET, microporous volume, mesoporous volume and width of the micropore on SIT and PIO was studied graphically • Relationships could not be well established • Lower regression coefficients were obtained
Quantitative analysis: Multiple Linear regression • Develop quantitative relations and to compare with the qualitative results • Stepwise multiple linear regression - Minitab software • The interdependancy of the predictor variables checked using matrix correlation • One predictor variable used from the correlated pairs
Quantitative analysis: Regression equations Regression equations : PIO = 231 - 63,5 Log (Vporous) - 32,9 Log (O/C)R2 = 0.85 S = 17 °C(12 samples) PIO = 315 – 89.1 Log (O/C) % R2 = 0.98 S = 7 °C (9 samples excluding coconut shell activated carbon samples) SIT = 492 – 3.33 (O/C) % R2 = 0.67 S = 54 °C(12 samples) SIT = 537 – 4.70 (O/C) % R2 = 0.96 S = 16 °C(9 samples excluding coconut shell activated carbon samples) • No other predictor variables were discriminated except (O/C) ratio • Quantitative regression equations confirm the results of qualitative analysis
Conclusion • The role of properties of activated carbons on their oxidation and ignition characteristics have been studied • Oxygen content is the most influent (exceptions were observed) • Effect of porosity properties on the oxidation and ignition characteristics could not be well established • Perspectives • Oxidation and ignition may be better explained by structural properties than the porosity characteristics • Article coupling these results with HRTEM study is underway with Prof. Rouzaud