Oxidative coupling of phenols on activated carbon. Impact on adsorption equilibrium

Journal Article · Fri Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · Environmental Science and Technology; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/es00047a013· OSTI ID:5140248

Vidic, R D ^[1]; Suldan, M T ^[2]; Brenner, R C ^[3]

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1. Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
2. Univ. of Cincinnati, OH (United States)
3. Risk Reduction Engineering Lab., Cincinnati, OH (United States)

Previously reported results by the authors revealed that the presence of molecular oxygen (oxic conditions) in the test environment can, in some instances, cause up to a 3-fold increase in the adsorptive capacity of granular activated carbon (GAC) for phenolic compounds. It was discovered that these compounds undergo oxidative coupling on the carbon surface under oxic conditions. The polymers formed as a result of these chemical reactions are very difficult to desorb from the surface of GAC. This led to significant irreversible adsorption in the presence of molecular oxygen. On the other hand, when the same compounds are adsorbed on the carbon surface under anoxic conditions, essentially all of the adsorbate can be recovered from the carbon surface by solvent extraction. The ionized species of phenolic compounds showed even higher susceptibility toward polymerization on the surface of GAC than the parent neutral molecules. GAC particle size did not influence the extent of polymerization. Oxygen uptake measurements revealed significant consumption of molecular oxygen during the adsorption of phenolic compounds. The amount of molecular oxygen consumed in these experiments was found to be linearly proportional to the amount of irreversibly adsorbed compound. 36 refs., 13 figs., 1 tab.

• OSTI ID: 5140248
• Journal Information: Environmental Science and Technology; (United States), Journal Name: Environmental Science and Technology; (United States) Vol. 27:10; ISSN ESTHAG; ISSN 0013-936X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010900* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Environmental Aspects
02 PETROLEUM
020900 -- Petroleum-- Environmental Aspects
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400102 -- Chemical & Spectral Procedures
400201 -- Chemical & Physicochemical Properties
ACTIVATED CARBON
ADSORBENTS
ADSORPTION
AROMATICS
CARBON
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHROMATOGRAPHY
COAL GASIFICATION
COKE OVENS
COMPILED DATA
DATA
ELEMENTS
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
GASIFICATION
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
INFORMATION
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
OXYGEN
PETROLEUM REFINERIES
PHENOLS
POLYMERIZATION
RADICALS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SORPTION
SPECTROSCOPY
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES