Preparation of activated carbons from seeds of Mucuna mutisiana by physical activation with steam

The purpose of this study was to obtain a series of activated carbons from the seeds of Mucuna mutisiana by physical activation with a mixture of steam and nitrogen in the presence of air. The effects of modulating the time and the temperature of activation were studied for samples that presented burn-off values between 33% and 86%. The samples obtained were characterised by physical adsorption of nitrogen at 77 K and carbon dioxide at 273 K. The apparent superficial areas were calculated by the BET method and the micropore volumes were calculated using the Dubinin–Raduskevich (DR) method and the alpha method. The results showed values of superficial area between 159 and 1106 m2 g−1 and micropore volumes between 0.069 and 0.455 cm3 g−1. The samples also presented mesoporosity with values between 0.023 and 0.125 cm3 g−1.