ACTIVATED CARBON FROM LIGNITE FOR WATER TREATMENT
High concentrations of humate in surface water result in the formation of excess amounts of chlorinated byproducts during disinfection treatment. These precursors can be removed in water treatment prior to disinfection using powdered activated carbon. In the interest of developing a more cost-effective method for removal of humates in surface water, a comparison of the activities of carbons prepared from North Dakota lignites with those of commercial carbons was conducted. Previous studies indicated that a commercial carbon prepared from Texas lignite (Darco HDB) was superior to those prepared from bituminous coals for water treatment. That the high alkali content of North Dakota lignites would result in favorable adsorptive properties for the very large humate molecules was hypothesized, owing to the formation of larger pores during activation. Since no standard humate test has been previously developed, initial adsorption testing was performed using smaller dye molecules with various types of ionic character. With the cationic dye, methylene blue, a carbon prepared from a high-sodium lignite (HSKRC) adsorbed more dye than the Darco HDB. The carbon from the low-sodium lignite was much inferior. With another cationic dye, malachite green, the Darco HDB was slightly better. With anionic dyes, methyl red and azocarmine-B, the results for the HSKRC and Darco HDB were comparable. A humate test was developed using Aldrich humic acid. The HSKRC and the Darco HDB gave equally high adsorption capacities for the humate (138 mg/g), consistent with the similarities observed in earlier tests. A carbon prepared from a high-sodium lignite from a different mine showed an outstanding improvement (201 mg/g). The carbons prepared from the low-sodium lignites from both mines showed poor adsorption capacities for humate. Adsorption isotherms were performed for the set of activated carbons in the humate system. These exhibited a complex behavior interpreted as resulting from two types of sorption sites. The effect of pH on adsorption was investigated using buffered solutions. The sorption capacity decreased with increasing pH. A study of the effect of activation conditions on the adsorption capacity of the resulting carbon showed that steam activation at 750 C provides the optimum activity with the high-sodium char. An attempt to scale up the carbon production to the 2-kg scale failed to produce the same high activity that was obtained in the 100-g batch unit. Although this research demonstrated that a highly active carbon for water treatment can be produced from high-sodium lignites, much further work is needed to understand what methods and equipment will be needed for large-scale production of this carbon.
- Research Organization:
- University of North Dakota (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC26-98FT40320
- OSTI ID:
- 824974
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1 Jul 2000
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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