Physicochemical, structural, and adsorption properties of chemically and thermally modified activated carbons

In this work, granular activated carbon (GAC1240W Norit N.V.) was chemically and thermally modified to diverse its acid-base character. The main aim of this work was to assess the efficiency of surface modifications of activated carbons (ACs) concerning studying the differentiation of their affinity towards aromatic organic compounds of various properties. For this purpose, the comprehensive characteristics of oxidized activated carbon (AC-OX) and oxidized thermally modified carbons at 180, 280, 380, 480, 640, and 800 degrees C (AC-OX, ACOX-180, 280, 380, 480, 640, and 800) were analyzed using several analytical techniques:low-temperature nitrogen sorption (porosity characteristics), potentiometric titration of suspension (SPT) (acid-base properties), Xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) (quality and quantity analysis of elements), thermal analysis (TA) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) (materials thermal stability, identification of gaseous products emitted during thermal decomposition). To verify the applicability of adsorbents for removing selected organic compounds, the equilibrium and kinetic experimental data were measured and analyzed by applying various equations and models.