Analysis of the evolution of the pore size distribution and the pore network connectivity of a porous carbon during activation

The development of the microporosity, pore size distribution and pore network connectivity has been studied in the production of activated carbons from lignite char. Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulation of adsorption was applied to the characterisation of a set of activated carbons produced at a sequence of times. The pore size distributions obtained from nitrogen at 77 K and ethane at 264 K were used as inputs to a method based on percolation theory to study the changing connectivity of the system. The incorporation of percolation concepts in the study of the porosity development gives an insight into the processes involved. The analysis is applied to a particular environmental application, the adsorption of phenanthrene.