Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Adsorptive displacement analysis of many-component priority pollutants on activated carbon

Journal Article · · Environ. Sci. Technol.; (United States)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/es00160a003· OSTI ID:6502174

Multiple trace contaminants on activated carbon are determined by adsorptive displacement, i.e., equilibration in a solvent containing a large excess of a strongly adsorbing solute (displacer). Many components are desorbed completely. For most of the others, the adsorption isotherms become linear and mutually independent with a zero intercept, and the amount of the remaining adsorbed contaminant is readily calculable. The method is applied to the simultaneous determination of 25 preloaded base-neutral priority pollutants, which included refractory adsorbates such as benz(a)anthracene and dibenz(a,h)-sorbates such as benz(a)anthracene and dibenz(a,h)-anthracene; all were determined at loadings less than 0.1 mg/g, in methylene chloride containing 7.5% methanol and saturated benz(a)anthracene-7,12-dione as the displacer. About half of the pollutants were completely extracted. Phenol and derivatives exhibit nonlinear isotherms in this displacer system, presumably because of specific interactions with surface groups on the carbon. However, each of these compounds exhibits a zero-intercept linear isotherm in methanol at relatively high concentrations of the other. 4 figures.

Research Organization:
Kent State Univ, OH
OSTI ID:
6502174
Journal Information:
Environ. Sci. Technol.; (United States), Journal Name: Environ. Sci. Technol.; (United States) Vol. 21:6; ISSN ESTHA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English