Liquid phase carbon adsorption

The following are some of the typical industrial applications for liquid-phase carbon adsorption. Generally liquid-phase carbon adsorbents are used to decolorize or purify liquids, solutions, and liquefiable materials such as waxes. Specific industrial applications include the decolorization of sugar syrups the removal of sulfurous, phenolic, and hydrocarbon contaminants from wastewater the purification of various aqueous solutions of acids, alkalies, amines, glycols, salts, gelatin, vinegar, fruit juices, pectin, glycerol, and alcoholic spirits dechlorination the removal of... 

In 1995, the U.S. EPA estimated costs for liquid-phase carbon adsorption and vapor-phase carbon absorption (D16494X, p. 99). This information is presented in Table 1. 

A-2 ADP VOC treatment system, wetted-wall evaporation followed by ultraviolet radiation and liquid-phase carbon adsorption, 33... 

A single-column system for liquid-phase carbon adsorption is used in situations where the following conditions prevail laboratory testing has indicated that the breakthrough curve will be steep the extended lifetime of the carbon at normal operating conditions results in minor replacement or regeneration costs the capital... 

Activated carbons for use in Hquid-phase appHcations differ from gas-phase carbons primarily in pore size distribution. Liquid-phase carbons have significantly more pore volume in the macropore range, which permits Hquids to diffuse more rapidly into the mesopores and micropores (69). The larger pores also promote greater adsorption of large molecules, either impurities or products, in many Hquid-phase appHcations. Specific-grade choice is based on the isotherm (70,71) and, in some cases, bench or pilot scale evaluations of candidate carbons. 

The assessment of reaction kinetics by means of batch tests may be strongly affected by dye adsorption on the biophase and supports. The relevance of the adsorption phenomena of dyes on biophase has been addressed in studies regarding free cells [41], granular support biofilm [24], entrapped cells [11, 18], anaerobic sludge [10,24,31,34] and biological activated carbon (BAC) [42,45,47,48]. They have pointed out that the kinetics may be overestimated if the assessment of the adsorption contribution to the dye removal is not taken into account. Under batch conditions, the dye is fastly split between the liquid phase and the biophase, resulting in a sharp reduction of the dye concentration in the liquid phase until adsorption equilibrium is approached. The rate of dye adsorption must be estimated and ruled out in the kinetic assessment. 

As a result, hydrophilidty is introduced to the surface. The world production of activated carbons in 2002 was estimated to be about 750000 metric tons. There is discrimination between gas- and liquid-phase carbons. Typical liquid-phase applications are potable water treatment, groundwater remediation, and industrial and municipal waste-water treatment and sweetener decolorization. Gas-adsorption applications are solvent recovery, gasoline emission control, and protection against atmospheric contaminants. 

Liquid-phase adsorption methods are widely used for quaUty control and specification purposes. The adsorption of iodine from potassium iodide solution is the standard ASTM method D1510-83 (2). The surface area is expressed as the iodine number whose units are milligrams of iodine adsorbed per gram of carbon. It is quite fortuitous that the values of iodine numbers turn out to be about the same as the values for surface areas in square meters per gram by nitrogen adsorption for nonporous carbon blacks. 

Adsorption This is the most widely used of the physical-chemical treatment processes. It is used primarily for the removal of soluble organics with activated carbon serving as the adsorbent. Most liquid-phase-activated carbon adsorption reactions follow a Freundlich Isotherm [Eq. (25-21)]. 

Fig. 6. Breakthrough curves for aqueous acetone (10 mg 1" in feed) flowing through exnutshell granular active carbon, GAC, and PAN-based active carbon fibers, ACF, in a continuous flow reactor (see Fig. 5) at 10 ml min" and 293 K [64]. C/Cq is the outlet concentration relative to the feed concentration. Reprinted from Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Volume 34, Lin, S. H. and Hsu, F. M., Liquid phase adsorption of organic compounds by granular activated carbon and activated carbon fibers, pp. 2110-2116, Copyright 1995, with permission from the American Chemical Society.

We wUl now touch upon some of these factors. First, let s look at what we mean by system isotherm. Freundlich liquid phase isotherm studies can be used to establish the adsorptive capacity of activated carbon over a range of different concentrations. Under standard conditions, the adsorptive capacity of activated carbon increases as the concentration increases, until we reach a point of maximum saturation capacity. An example of an isotherm for phenol is shown in Figure 8. 

The Freundlich liquid phase isotherm can be used to determine the effect of solubility on the adsorptive capacity of activated carbon over a range of different concentrations. Phenol is highly soluble due to its polar nature whilst, in comparison, tetrachloroethylene (PCE) has a low solubility due to being non-polar. In the isotherms illustrated, the concentration of phenol is low relative to its solubility limit and consequently, the adsorptive capacity peaks at 18% maximum (see Figure 9). In comparison the concentration of tetrachloroethylene is relatively close to its solubility limit and, accordingly, the adsorptive capacity is exceptionally good. 

Applications of carbon adsorption go far beyond conventional water treatment applications which we will discuss in a general sense shortly. Table 8 provides a summary of the key applications of carbon adsorption systems for liquid phase applications. 

Table 8. Liquid Phase Applications of Carbon Adsorption.

Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) Adsorption (Liquid Phase) page -... 

Description of granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption (liquid phase) remediation technology used to clean up pumped ground water contaminated with volatile/semi-volatile organics and PCBs. http //erb. nfesc. navy. mil/restoration/te. 

We have developed a compact photocatalytic reactor [1], which enables efficient decomposition of organic carbons in a gas or a liquid phase, incorporating a flexible and light-dispersive wire-net coated with titanium dioxide. Ethylene was selected as a model compound which would rot plants in sealed space when emitted. Effects of the titanium dioxide loading, the ethylene concentration, and the humidity were examined in batches. Kinetic analysis elucidated that the surface reaction of adsorbed ethylene could be regarded as a controlling step under the experimental conditions studied, assuming the competitive adsorption of ethylene and water molecules on the same active site. 

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