title: Enhancing activated carbon adsorption of 2-methylisoborneol: methane and steam treatments.
abstract: This research investigated methods for tailoring a commercial, lignite-based granular activated carbon (GAC) to enhance its adsorption of 2-methylisoborneol (MIB) from natural water. Tailoring efforts focused on heat treatments in gas environments comprising steam and/or methane, since these gases can alter GAC pore structure and surface chemistry. Heat treatments that combined methane and steam enhanced MIB adsorption considerably, causing a 4-fold improvement (over untreated GAC) in fixed-bed adsorption performance relative to initial MIB breakthrough. These favorable effects, observed in rapid small-scale column tests, occurred following simultaneous and separate (sequential) applications of methane and steam. Moderately low temperature steam treatments also improved MIB uptake in fixed-bed adsorption tests but to a lesser extent (approximately 1.5-fold). In contrast, methane treatments alone, at various temperatures, led to significant carbon deposition within the GAC pore structure. As a result, total pore volume was reduced and MIB adsorption performance declined.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA. konowack@pirnie.com
authors.forename: Kirk O
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Nowack
authors.forename: Fred S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Cannon
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Mazyck
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000392:Air Movements; D001892:Camphanes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D005740:Gases; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008697:Methane / Q000737:chemistry; D009812:Odorants; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D001892:Camphanes; D005740:Gases; C005536:2-methylisoborneol; D002244:Carbon; D008697:Methane