Preparation of Bamboo-Based Carbonaceous Adsorbents for the Removal of Musty/Earthy Off-Odors and Vocs

The investigations were made on the carbonization and the activation behaviors for bamboo, and the applicability of bamboo to the production of high functional activated carbons was discussed. Carbon dioxide was used as an activating agent. In the activation process, it was found that the potassium fractions mainly settled in the intercellular regions work as a catalyst and will accelerate the thermal decomposition of carbon. Therefore, when the activation reaction propagated into the intercellular regions, the activation reaction was suddenly accelerated; this makes the pore size distribution of obtained activated carbon featureless. In order to obtain the activated carbon with sharp pore size distribution suitable to remove musty and earthy off-odors from drinking water or harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from ambient air, it is important to control the amount of potassium fractions in the charcoals.