Surface composition and adsorption properties of activated carbon cloth

Abstract

Surface properties of activated carbons have shown to play an important role in adsorption process. The presence of various functional groups (such as phenolic, carbonyl, carboxylic) on the carbon surface depends on the nature of its base component and the activation technique employed in the manufacturing process. The aim of this work is to gain a better fundamental understanding of the nature of surface oxide sites present on activated carbon cloth surface (ACC), and their role in the adsorption process. BET surface areas of ACC were measured by means of benzene adsorption isotherms. The amount and the type of surface oxygen groups were determined by thermogravimetric analysis and classical titration following Boehm’s method. Batch adsorption tests were used to evaluate equilibrium adsorption isotherms of phenol on ACC. It was shown that both surface area and surface groups composition had impact on adsorption properties of ACC against phenol.