Carbon foams as catalyst supports for phenol photodegradation.

A carbon foam using coal tar pitch as precursor was prepared and investigated as support for titanium oxide for the photocatalytic degradation of phenol. The performance of the carbon foam/titania composite was compared to those of unsupported titania and other activated carbon composites from the literature. The photodegradation rate of phenol over the catalysts under UV illumination was fitted to the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model; data showed that the apparent rate constant of the carbon foam supported titania was almost three times larger than that of bare titania, and comparable to that of other carbon supported composites.

Improved phenol adsorption on carbons after mild temperature steam reactivation.

The purpose of this work is to explore steam reactivation at moderate temperatures of activated carbon exhausted with phenol, a highly toxic compound frequently present in industrial wastewater. The spent carbon was treated with steam at various temperatures (450, 600 and 850 degrees C) and times (from 5 to 60 min). Promising results were obtained by applying moderate temperatures and times.

Adsorption of naphthalene from aqueous solution on activated carbons obtained from bean pods.

The preparation of activated carbons from bean pods waste by chemical (K(2)CO(3)) and physical (water vapor) activation was investigated. The carbon prepared by chemical activation presented a more developed porous structure (surface area 1580 m(2) g(-1) and pore volume 0.809 cm(3) g(-1)) than the one obtained by water vapor activation (258 m(2) g(-1) and 0.

Use of an activated carbon from antibiotic waste for the removal of Hg(II) from aqueous solution.

Porous carbon has been prepared from waste antibiotic material by a chemical activation method using K(2)CO(3) as an activating reagent. Carbon was studied systematically by the adsorption of nitrogen and iodine. It was found that the process parameters such as activation temperature and activation time are crucial for preparing high-quality activated carbon.

Removal of mercury (II) from aqueous solution by activated carbon obtained from furfural.

The adsorption of Hg(II) from aqueous solution at 293 K by activated carbon obtained from furfural is studied. The carbon is prepared by polymerization of furfural following carbonization and activation of the obtained polymer material with water vapor at 800 degrees C. Adsorption studies of Hg(II) are carried out varying some conditions: treatment time, metal ion concentration, adsorbent amount and pH.