Effects of coal rank, Fe3O4 amounts and activation temperature on the preparation and characteristics of magnetic activated carbon

Coal-based Magnetic Activated Carbons (CMAC's) were prepared from three representative coal samples of various ranks: Baorigele lignite from Inner Mongolia; Datong bitumite from Shanxi province; and Taixi anthracite from Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Fe3O4 was used as a magnetic additive. A nitrogen-adsorption analyzer was used to determine the specific surface area and pore structure of the resulting activated carbons. The adsorption capacity was assessed by the adsorption of iodine and methylene blue. X-ray diffraction was used to measure the evolution behavior of Fe3O4 during the preparation process. Magnetic properties were characterized with a vibrating-sample magnetometer. The effect of the activation temperature on the performance of CMAC's was also studied. The results show that, compared to Baorigele lignite and Taixi anthracite, the Datong bitumite is more appropriate for the preparation of CMAC's with a high specific surface area, an advanced pore structure and suitable magnetic properties. Fe3O4 can effectively enhance the magnetic properties and control the pore structure by increasing the ratio of mesopores. An addition of 6.0% Fe3O4 and an activation temperature of 880 °C produced a CMAC having a specific surface area, an iodine adsorption, a methylene blue adsorption and a specific saturation magnetization of 1152.0 m2/g, 1216.7 mg/g, 229.5 mg/g and 4.623 emu/g, respectively. The coal used to prepare this specimen was Datong bitumite.