Preparation of epoxy resin-based activated carbons from waste printed circuit boards by steam activation

Epoxy resin-based activated carbons were prepared from waste printed circuit boards by physical activation with steam in a two-step approach, firstly carbonized and then activated with steam. The important parameters, which affect the characteristics of epoxy resin-based activated carbon greatly, such as the carbonization temperature, carbonization time, activation temperature and activation time, were investigated in this study. Compared with the carbonized chars, the activated carbon through steam activation has obvious improvements in the BET surface area and pore volume. The results indicated that the best quality epoxy resin-based activated carbon was obtained at carbonization temperature of 600 °C, carbonization time of 2 h, activation temperature of 800 °C and activation time of 90 min. The non-metallic fraction of WPCBs could be a promising material for preparing epoxy resin-based activated carbon with developed microporous and small mesoporous structures.