Activated carbon is one of the most common microporous adsorbent that can efficiently remove undesired contaminants from liquid and gas phases by adsorption. Activated carbon has been extensively used in industrial applications especially in water treatments. Adsorption of chemical molecules onto activated carbon is directly related on its surface area and reactivity, porosity and nature of the precursor. Any raw organic material (coal, wood, shells, etc.) can be used as precursor to produce activated carbon. Preparation of activated carbon involves two main steps; carbonization and activation. Carbonization is a process performed in an inert atmosphere below 800 °C, to extract pure carbon by pyrolysis. Activation involves a process which enhances the porosity of carbonized product. In this process some chemical agents such as carbon dioxide, steam, zinc chloride, phosphoric acid and hydroxides of alkali metals, are used as activators. All materials possessing high carbon content can be converted to activated carbon throughout carbonization and activation processes. The properties of resulted product such as surface area, surface reactivity, surface chemistry, microporosity etc. are determined by conditions of carbonization and activation processes, types of activating agents and the nature of the precursors used. Generally, activated carbon is used in powder, granular and fiber/cloth forms. Although their common usage is in the granular and powder forms, the fiber/cloth form has great attention because of possessing several advantages such as high specific area, high adsorption capacity and high adsorption rate.
Activated carbons are traditionally in powdered and granulated forms. After 1970’s a third form, activated carbon cloth/fiber, was developed and has been used in many areas since then. Activated carbon cloth when compared with powdered or granular forms of activated carbons, has several advantages such as higher surface area, adsorption capacity and rate of adsorption/desorption. Additionally, it has also lower rersistance to flow of gases, greater flexibility, structural integrity and more uniform pore size distribution.Activated carbon fabric has been used for filtration and adsorption purposes in many industries such as chemistry and pharmacy. Its exellent properties over the other carbon forms make it more preferable in protection of toxic chemicals as well as using it in production of protective cloths and filters for Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) weapons.