Preparation of Microporous Activated Carbon from Raw Coconut Shell by Two-step Procedure

A novel two-step procedure was used to manufacture microporous activated carbon from raw co- conut shell. In this process, the raw coconut shell was (1) heated in an inert environment to temperatures be- tween 450℃ and 850℃, and reacted with oxygen ( p O2=1.1-5.3kPa) for some time, and (2) heated again in in- ert environment to activation temperature(850℃) to produce an activated carbon. Activated carbons with specific surface area greater than 700m2·g-1 were manufactured with a yield between 24% and 28%. It was shown that the carbon had a narrow distribution of pore size, possibly less than 1nm, which was calculated by a simple method based on local density function theory.