Review of limiting issues in industrialization and scale-up of microwave-assisted activated carbon production

Abstract

The worldwide demand of activated carbon is expected to increase by 58% until 2016 [ Fredonia World Activated Carbon; 2013; p 415 ], owing to tighter pollution controls and increased production of consumer goods. To cope up with high demand, new sustainable and energy efficient processes are being explored. Microwave assisted production of activated carbon from biomass feedstock use selective heating which makes the process energy efficient and sustainable in nature. Recent studies used domestic microwave oven with open loop temperature control to prepare activated carbon, without taking into consideration the dielectric properties of biomass and activating agents, and safety issues. As a result, these studies do not provide necessary information for the scale-up of the reactor for high throughputs. In this research, the critical issues in the present research are analyzed, and appropriate remedies have been suggested to overcome them, as a step forward toward the scale-up of technology for industrial scale production.