Adsorption of Organic Micropollutants onto Activated Carbon Fibers: Cloth and Felt

Abstract

Adsorption of polluted solutions is performed by different kinds of activated carbon: grains, powder and fibers (cloth or felt). The adsorption is determined in batch reactor. Classic models are applied and kinetic constants are calculated. Results showed that performance of fibrous activated carbon (FAC) is significantly better than that of granular activated carbon (GAC), and is quite similar to that of powder activated carbon (PAC). Moreover, the adsorption capacities for phenol of FAC is markedly greater than GAC. Therefore the application of FAC adsorbers may lead to smaller adsorption reactors. The breakthrough curves obtained with FAC adsorbers are particularly steep, suggesting a smaller mass transfer resistance than for the GAC. The adsorption zone in the FAC bed is about 3.4 mm and is not dependent on the flow rate for the range 0.67–2.07 m • h-1.