Production of Activated Carbons from Pyrolysis of Waste Tires Impregnated with Potassium Hydroxide

Activated carbons were produced from waste tires using a chemical activation method. The carbon production pro-cess consisted of potassium hydroxide (KOH) impregna-tion followed by pyrolysis in N2 at 600–900 °C for 0–2 hr. The activation method can produce carbons with a sur-face area (SA) and total pore volume as high as 470 m2/g and 0.57 cm3/g, respectively. The influence of different parameters during chemical activation, such as pyrolysis temperature, holding time, and KOH/tire ratio, on the carbon yield and the surface characteristics was explored, and the optimum preparation conditions were recom-mended. The pore volume of the resulting carbons gener-ally increases with the extent of carbon gasified by KOH and its derivatives, whereas the SA increases with degree of gasification to reach a maximum value, and then de-creases upon further gasification