Adsorption of Phenol by Activated Carbon Regenerated by Microwave Irradiation

The capability of activated carbon adsorption and microwave regeneration to remove high-concentration phenol was investigated in this paper. The experimental results showed that activated carbon adsorption can effectively remove high-concentration phenol, and that microwave regeneration can recover and improve the activated carbon capacity. Microwave regeneration increased adsorption capacity from 196.4mg g-1 to 271.1mg g-1, surface area from 746.lm2 g-1 to 888.4 m2 g-1, and cumulative pore volume from 0.37cm2/g to 0.42cm2/g. In addition, the number of carboxyl groups was significantly reduced after regeneration, effectively preventing the formation of water clusters and consequently making the phenol more easily diffused on microporous carbon surfaces.