MgO-Modified Activated Carbon Fibers for Enhanced Adsorption of Toluene: Efficiency and Mechanism

Abstract

To enhance the surface functionalities of activated carbon fiber (ACF), the impregnation and high-temperature calcination methods were utilized to effectively load magnesium oxide on ACF. Dynamic adsorption tests were carried out to examine the impact of different doping amounts and calcination temperatures with respect to the adsorption performance of MgO/ACF on toluene, and it was characterized by SEM, XRD, N₂ ad-desorption isotherms and FT-IR technique. When Mg/ACF mass ratio was 3% and a calcination temperature of 550 °C, the Mg_0.03/ACF-550 composite material revealed the optimum adsorption capacity of toluene was 230.8 mg/g, which was 31% higher than the original ACF, and it could be regenerated and permitting reuse for multiple cycles. Its adsorption process of toluene occurred via a combination of surface adsorption and pore-filling mechanisms.