PORE STRUCTURE AND ELEMENTAL COMPOSITION OF SHARGUN COAL (SURKHANDARYA, UZBEKISTAN): A BASELINE CHARACTERISATION FOR LOCALLY PRODUCED ACTIVATED CARBON

Almost all activated carbon used by industry in Uzbekistan is imported, while the demand for demineralised water — and hence for adsorbent filters — is growing with the country’s hydrogen and thermal power programmes. This work characterises coal from the Shargun deposit (Surkhandarya region) in its pre-activation state, in order to establish a quantitative baseline against which activation regimes can later be judged. Pore structure was determined by nitrogen physisorption at 77.35 K and surface morphology and spot composition by SEM–EDS. The isotherm is convex to the relative-pressure axis over its whole length and shows no point B, which places it close to IUPAC Type III; this is consistent with the BET C constant of 1.799, since within BET theory C < 2 corresponds to Type III and signals that the monolayer assumption does not hold. The multi-point BET area of 8.088 m2 /g is therefore reported for comparison only, and QSDFT is adopted as the primary basis: 12.142 m2 /g, pore volume 0.059 cm3 /g, modal half-width 2.59 nm. No pores narrower than a 2.26 nm half-width were resolved, and about 78 % of the pore volume lies above a 10 nm half-width, so the material is dominated by wide mesopores and interparticle voids rather than by mesopores of the modal size. Carbon accounts for 79.8–82.4 wt.% and sulphur for only 0.16–0.36 wt.%; iron was not detected. Shargun coal cannot serve as an adsorbent as received, but its high carbon content, low sulphur and absence of pyrite make it a promising feedstock for steam activation.