Fundamental concepts for application of activated carbon in water and wastewater treatment

Abstract

A discussion covers the principal concepts underlying the adsorption of organic compounds from the aqueous phase by activated carbon, including the effect of soluble materials on the surface tension of a liquid, the hydrophobicity of the solute and its high affinity for carbon as a driving force for adsorption, different types of adsorption (e.g., chemisorption), and specific interactions between functional groups on the sorbate and on the surface of the sorbent; quantification and modeling, including a numeric solution technique for adsorber design, the Michigan Adsorption Design and Applications Model (MADAM), which is not restricted to simplified rate and equilibrium expressions to facilitate analytic solution; and analytic solutions developed for a variety of conceptual models which lack flexibility and do not include effects such as multicomponent interactions.