Formation of the Porous Structure of Fossil Coals upon Alkaline Activation with Thermal Shock

The porous structure of activated carbons (ACs) formed by fossil coals of different ranks upon alkaline activation with thermal shock (KOH, 800°C) was studied. It was established that the specific surface area of ACs decreased from 2012 to 818 m 2 /g, the pore volume decreased from 1.088 to 0.269 cm 3 /g, and the fraction of micropores linearly increased from 0.64 to 0.92 as the C daf of the test samples increased from 70.4 to 95.6%. It was shown that an increase in coal rank was responsible for the transition from a micro–mesoporous material to a nanoporous AC.