Structural Performance and Characterization of Polyimide Doped Activated Carbon Fibers for Mercury Adsorption

Structure characteristics about activated carbon fibers (ACF) and polyimide (P84) doped ACF modified by HNO3 solution were studied to apply in mercury removal in coal-fired flue gases.The P84,which was always used in the non-woven fabric for bag filter,was intermingled with polyacrylonitrile-based ACF (PAN-ACF) in the weight ratio of 1:1 in order to make the doped ACF with P84 (doped-ACF-P84).Then the doped-ACF-P84 fibers were modified by HNO3 solution.The structure and morphology of doped-ACF-P84 were characterized and compared with those of ACF and doped-ACF-P84 modified by HNO3 solution.The results show that the modified doped-ACF-P84 fibers have almost the same pore structure and specific surface area comparing with the original one.However,contrasted with the original PAN-ACF,the doped-ACFP84 fibers modified by HNO3 solution have more oxygen-containing groups used for mercury removal.In particular,they have more lactone and carboxyl groups.