Adsorption characteristics of phenol and chlorophenols on granular activated carbons (GAC)

The adsorption of phenol and chlorophenols on four commercial granular activated carbons (GAC) was investigated by batch experiment to correlate with the structure of activated carbons. Physical properties including surface area, average pore diameter and micropore volume and chemical structure of the activated carbons were characterized by N-2 adsorption experiment, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, elemental analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and FT-IR spectroscopy. To calculate the adsorption parameters, adsorption isotherm data were fitted to the Freundlich equation. From the correlation between the characterization and the Freundlich parameters, it is concluded that the adsorption behavior of phenol and chlorophenols on activated carbons is controlled by the dispersion force between the Tr-electrons in activated carbons and those in phenol molecules. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.