Production of high density activated carbon fiber by a hot briquetting method

A new method was presented to prepare activated carbon fiber with high bulk density (HD-ACF) without using any binders. The method consists of the hot briquetting of stabilized fiber and subsequent carbonization and activation of the fiber. The stabilization level of the stabilized fiber usable in this method must be higher than that of ordinary stabilized fibers, but neither any other processes like crushing nor any binders are required, The HD-ACF produced by this method had neither cracks nor carbon fines on it. The bulk density of the HD-ACF could be easily controlled from 0.2 to 0.86 g/cm(3) by changing the load of mechanical pressure during the hot briquetting. The hot briquetting process was found not to affect the subsequent carbonization and activation processes, so the HD-ACF has almost same micropore structure as the non formed ACF when we compare at a same activation level. Thus we could produce ACF with high bulk density without losing the high adsorption performance of ACF. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.