Activated Carbon Adsorption and Environment Removal of Inorganics from Water

Activated Carbon Adsorption and Environment Removal of Inorganics from Water 

Several biological and chemical methods such as filtration, coagulation, oxidation, and ion-exchange have been used for the treatment of waste water, but the continuing increase in the variety and amount of hazardous chemicals present in our lakes rivers and sometimes ground water reserves make these conventional methods inefficient and sometimes even ineffective. Consequently, the development of new and more effective technologies becomes essential. Many laboratory tests and field 

The adsorptive removal of organics and inorganics from waste water by activated carbons depends upon the surface area, the pore volume, and the pore-size distribution in carbons. Although adsorption capacity of an activated carbon depends on these parameters, it is strongly influenced by the surface chemistry of the activated carbons. Most of the as-received activated carbons are hydrophobic and are associated with small amonnts of nentral carbon-oxygen surface groups. Such activated carbons are more snitable for the adsorption of neutral or nonpolar organic compounds and they show little affinity for polar and ionic pollutants. An example is the adsorption of phenol for which the snrface chemistry of a carbon is more important than the snrface area. 

Activated carbon treatment of water can be divided into three categories of water. The first one is the water for drinking and other human consumptions purposes. Under this category falls the treatment of mnnicipal water supply to an acceptable qnality. This involves large-scale treatment of water from rivers, lakes, and reservoirs 

Aly and Huang discussed the removal of several cations such as barium, iron, vanadium, and selenium, and several chlorine, fluorine, and cyanide compounds. More recently, activated carbons have also been used for the adsorptive removal of sulfides, nitrates, chlorides, chlorites, and chlorates, cyanides, boric acid, borax, and borates, as well as certain metals such as lithium, cerium, iron, strontium, and dysposium from the aqueous phase. 

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