Preparation of steam-activated carbons as catalyst supports

A series of activated carbons prepared from a low-rank Spanish coal has been prepared in order to evaluate the influence of the activation conditions in the porous structure and in the surface chemistry of the resulting material. This optimization was performed with the main aim of obtaining an appropriate activated carbon that would suit the desirable features of a catalyst support, as this study is a part of a work that accomplishes the production of carbon-based catalysts for the selective reduction of nitrogen oxides. The carbons were activated with steam in a fluidized bed reactor. The influence of the temperature of activation, the total gas flow, the steam percentage and the residence time was evaluated.