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

The adsorption of phenol and chlorophenols on four commercial granular acti vated carbons (GAC) was investigated by batch experiment to correlate with the structure of activated carbons. Physical properties including surface a rea, average pore diameter and micropore volume and chemical structure of t he activated carbons were characterized by N-2 adsorption experiment, scann ing 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 characterizati on and the Freundlich parameters, it is concluded that the adsorption behav ior of phenol and chlorophenols on activated carbons is controlled by the d ispersion force between the Tr-electrons in activated carbons and those in phenol molecules. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.