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Effect of the pore geometry in the characterization of the pore size distribution of activated carbons

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Abstract

In this work, the characterization of Activated Carbons (AC) by using the independent pore models is discussed, with special emphasis on the issue of how the assumed pore geometry can affect the resulting Pore Size Distribution (rPSD) and on the problem of the unicity of the PSD when different probe molecules are used in adsorption experiments. A theoretical test was performed using virtual solids based in the so-called Mixed Geometry Model (MGM) (Azevedo et al. 2010). The MGM uses a kernel of adsorption isotherms generated by GCMC for different pore sizes and two pore geometries: slit and triangular. The adsorption isotherms of a virtual MGM solid were fitted with both the traditional Slit Geometry Model (SGM) and the Mixed Geometry Model (MGM). It is demonstrated that, by assuming a different pore geometry model from that of the real sample, different PSDs may be obtained by fitting adsorption isotherms of different probe gases. Finally, experimental results are shown which both point toward the MGM as an acceptable extension of the SGM and confirm that the MGM is a closer representation of the actual porous structure of most activated carbons.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge financial support from CONICET (Argentina), CNPq and PETROBRAS (Brazil) and the joint project CAPES/SPU (Brasil/Argentina, project CAPG 035-08) and the project MinCyT/CAPES Brasil/Argentina 2012-2013 (BR/11/06). The numerical works were done using the BACO parallel cluster located at Dpto. de Física—Instituto de Física Aplicada, Universidad Nacional de San Luis—CONICET, San Luis, Argentina.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dpto. de Física. INFAP, Universidad Nacional de San Luis-CONICET, Ej. de los Andes 950, 5700, San Luis, Argentina

    J. P. Toso, J. C. A. Oliveira, D. A. Soares Maia, V. Cornette, R. H. López & G. Zgrablich

  2. Departamento de Engenharía Química, Universidade Federal do Ceará Campus do PICI, Fortaleza, Brazil

    D. C. S. Azevedo

Authors
  1. J. P. Toso
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  2. J. C. A. Oliveira
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  3. D. A. Soares Maia
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  4. V. Cornette
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  5. R. H. López
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  6. D. C. S. Azevedo
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  7. G. Zgrablich
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Correspondence to D. C. S. Azevedo.

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G. Zgrablich: 1942–2012 In Memoriam.

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Toso, J.P., Oliveira, J.C.A., Soares Maia, D.A. et al. Effect of the pore geometry in the characterization of the pore size distribution of activated carbons. Adsorption 19, 601–609 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-013-9483-x

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