Hierarcal porous polystyrene-based activated carbon spheres for CO2 capture

Activated carbon spheres with high specific surface area and hierarcal porous texture were prepared from polystyrene-based macroreticular resin spheres by air pre-oxidization and steam activation. The as-prepared carbon spheres had a specific surface area of 1274.95 m2 g− 1, total pore volume of 1.09 cm3 g− 1 and micropore volume of 0.47 cm3 g− 1. Moreover, these carbon spheres showed a hierarcal porous texture composed of ultrafine micropores (0.5-1 nm), micropores (1–2 nm), mesopores (10–50 nm) and macropores (50–100 nm). A CO2 adsorption capacity of 2.82 mmol g− 1 for carbon spheres can be obtained at 30 ℃ and 1 atm. Further, after introducing nitrogen-containing functional groups by gaseous ammonia at 600 ℃, these carbon spheres exhibited a high CO2 adsorption capacity of 3.2 mmol g− 1. In addition, excellent cyclic stability, low hygroscopicity and regenerability temperature suggested these carbon spheres were favorable for CO2 capture.

Chemical Protection Studies of Activated Carbon Spheres based Permeable Protective Clothing Against Sulfur Mustard, a Chemical Warfare Agent

Technological advancements in the field of chemical threat have made it possible to create extremely dangerous chemical warfare agents (CWA). Hence, the effective protection of personnel is very important in a chemical warfare scenario amidst the current climate of terrorism awareness. In particular, body protection plays a substantial role in the chemical defence considering the urgency of situation in the nuclear, biological and chemical environment. Activated carbon spheres (ACS) based permeable chemical protective clothing (coverall) was developed for protection against CWA. The adsorbent material i.e, ACS used in this protective clothing provided higher adsorption capacity (1029 mg/g in terms of iodine) and low thermal burden (34 °C WBGT index) compared to earlier indigenously developed NBC suit. This article focuses on the extensive evaluation of chemical protective clothing against sulfur mustard (HD), a CWA. The results revealed that the developed protective clothing provided more than 24 h protection against HD. This chemical protective suit is light weight (< 2.75 kg for XL size). It also has higher air permeability (> 30 cm3/s/cm2) as well as less water vapour resistance (< 9.6 m2Pa/W). With continued innovations in materials and attention to key challenges it is expected that advanced, multifunction chemical protective suit will play a pivotal role in the CWA protection scenario.