• Carbon letters
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.91-98
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• 2001

Porous carbons have been prepared from different parts of banana stems using two different routes, viz., by pyrolysing the mass at different temperatures as well as by treating the dried mass with chemicals followed by pyrolysis. The pyrolysis behaviour of all these materials has been studied up to $1000^{\circ}C$. Samples treated with acids exhibit more increase in surface area as compared to those treated with alkalies or salts. Analysis of BET surface area shows that the carbon prepared at low temperature shows mixed porosity, i.e., micro and mesopores. Samples heated to high temperature above $700^{\circ}C$ show decrease in macroporosity and increase in microporosity. Liquid adsorption studies have been made using methylene blue and heavy oil. The activated carbons so prepared exhibit higher oil adsorption mainly in the macro and mesopores.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.52-58
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• 2008

Mn-impregnated activated carbon (Mn-AC) prepared at different conditions was applied in the treatment of synthetic wastewater containing both organic and inorganic contaminants. Phenol and As(III) was used as the representative organic and inorganic contaminants, respectively. After evaluation of the physicochemical characteristic and stability of Mn-AC, oxidation of As(III) as well as adsorption of phenol by activated carbon(AC) and Mn-AC were investigated in a batch reactor. To investigate the stability of Mn-AC, dissolution of Mn from each Mn-AC was measured pH ranging from 2 to 4. Although Mn-AC was unstable at a strong acidic condition, the dissoluted Mn was below 3 ppm at pH 4. XRD analysis of Mn-AC indicated that the mineral type of the impregnated manganese was $Mn_2O_3$. From the simultaneous treatment of As(III) and phenol by AC and Mn-AC, As(III) oxidation by Mn-AC was greater than that by AC at lower pH, while the reverse order was observed at higher pH. After impregnation of Mn onto AC, 13% decrease of the surface area was observed, causing 8% reduction of phenol removal. Considering removal properties of As(III) and phenol, Mn-AC could be applied in the simultaneous treatment of wastewater contaminated with multi-contaminants.

• Journal of Institute of Convergence Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 2022

Polyacrylonitrile was synthesized through suspension polymerization and then sieved to obtain spherical beads with a size of 200~510 ㎛. PAN was copolymerized with 2 mol% MMA monomer which is known to promote cyclization and crosslinking of nitrile group. The resonance cyclization reaction of the nitrile group in the synthesized PAN beads was observed near 170℃ with thermal analysis and FT-IR. The reaction conversion of the nitrile group in spherical beads was 23% during heat treatment, which was lower than that of the well-oriented PAN fiber used as a precursor of carbon fiber. This is because the stereo-regularity of molecular chains in the form of a random coil (spherical bead) is much lower than that of PAN fiber. It was confirmed that the compressive strength of the spherical PAN bead was greatly improved through the resonance cyclization and shrinkage according to the heat treatment, and it was also observed that the pores in PAN beads were formed after the heat treatment.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.23-28
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• 2024

Cesium is a potential toxic contaminant due to its high solubility, which allows it to easily penetrate the human body and potentially induce cancer or DNA mutations. In this study, oxygen functional groups were introduced on activated carbons (ACs) by ozone treatment to enhance the cesium adsorption capacity. As the ozone treatment time increased, the oxygen content on the ACs surface increased. Subsequently, the electrostatic interaction between ACs and cesium enhanced, resulting in higher cesium ion adsorption efficiency across all samples. In particular, the sample treated with ozone for 7 minutes at an internal ozone concentration of 50000 ppm had roughly 12% greater oxygen functional group content and the highest cesium removal effectiveness (97.6%). Meanwhile, samples treated for 5 minutes showed a 0.3% cesium removal rate difference compared to those treated for 7 minutes, which was caused by the surface chemical similarity of the two samples due to the reactive characteristics of ozone gas. However, the cesium adsorption performance of ozonated activated carbon seems to be mainly influenced by the amount of oxygen functional groups introduced to the surface, although the specific surface area and pore structure of the activated carbon are also important.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.308-323
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• 2009

This review paper serves to describe the composition and activity of biological activated carbon (BAC) biofilm which is considered as a progressive process for water treatment. As well as several physical-chemical, biochemical and microbiological analysis methods for characterizing the composition and activity of BAC biofilm, the ability of the biofilm to remove and biodegrade organic matters and pollutants related to other water treatment processes such as pre-ozonation will be reviewed. In this paper, conversion of GAC into BAC, removal mechanism of pollutants, characteristics and affecting factors of BAC biofilm, and modeling of BAC are described in detail. In addition, strategies to control the growth of the BAC biofilm, such as varying the nutrient loading rate, altering the frequency of BAC filter backwashing and applying oxidative disinfection, will be dwelled on related to their respective process control challenges.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.235-245
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• 1997

A pilot scale study for removing odor and trihalomethane formation potential (THMFP) was investigated in the standard water treatment plant equipped with ozone oxidation and granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption processes. The removal efficiency of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the pilot scale standard water treatment process (PSWTP) was about 25%, however, no more removal in the ozone oxidation process. On a GAC after 30 days operation, DOC removal efficiency was about 75%. Odor removal efficiency was about 30% in PSWTP, 60% in ozone oxidation, and almost complete in well as DOC. Mid-1 and 2 that showed breakthrough in odor inducing material as well as DOC. Mid-1 and 2 chlorination was able to reduce trihalomethanes (THM) by 25% compared to prechloringation, while postchlorination alone could reduce them by 30%.

• Carbon letters
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.236-242
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• 2012

Poly(vinylidene chloride) (PVDC)-derived nanoporous carbons were prepared by various activation methods: heat-treatment under an inert atmosphere, steam activation, and potassium hydroxide (KOH) activation at 873, 1073, and 1273 K. The pore structures of PVDC-derived nanoporous carbons were characterized by the $N_2$ adsorption technique at 77 K. Heat treatment in an inert atmosphere increased the specific surface area and micropore volume with elevating temperature, while the average micropore width near 0.65 nm was not significantly changed, reflecting the characteristic pore structure of ultramicroporous carbon. Steam activation for PVDC at 873 and 1073 K also yielded ultramicroporosity. On the other hand, the steam activated sample at 1273 K had a wider average micropore width of 1.48 nm, correlating with a supermicropore. The KOH activation increased the micropore volume with elevating temperature, which is accompanied by enlargement of the average micropore width from 0.67 to 1.12 nm. The average pore widths of KOH-activated samples were strongly governed by the activation temperature. We expect that these approaches can be utilized to simply control the porosity of PVDC-derived nanoporous carbons.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.501-512
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• 2019

The seasonal effects on the biostability of drinking water were investigated by comparing the seasonal variation of assimilable organic carbon (AOC) in full-scale water treatment process and adsorption of AOC by three filling materials in lab-scale column test. In full-scale, pre-chlorination and ozonation significantly increase $AOC_{P17\;(Pseudomonas\;fluorescens\;P17)}$ and $AOC_{NOX\;(Aquaspirillum\;sp.\;NOX)}$, respectively. AOC formation by oxidation could increase with temperature, but the increased AOC could affect the biostability of the following processes more significantly in winter than in warm seasons due to the low biodegradation in the pipes and the processes at low temperature. $AOC_{P17}$ was mainly removed by coagulation-sedimentation process, especially in cold season. Rapid filtration could effectively remove AOC only during warm seasons by primarily biodegradation, but biological activated carbon filtration could remove AOC in all seasons by biodegradation during warm season and by adsorption and bio-regeneration during cold season. The adsorption by granular activated carbon and anthracite showed inverse relationship with water temperature. The advanced treatment can contribute to enhance the biostability in the distribution system by reducing AOC formation potential and helping to maintain stable residual chlorine after post-chlorination.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.658-662
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• 2009

In this work, the amine-treated activated carbon nanotubes (A-MWNTs) were used to investigate the $CO_2$ adsorption behaviors. A-MWNTs were prepared by impregnation with amine in methanol after chemical activation methods using a KOH. The characteristics of amine-treated A-MWNTs were studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), $N_2$ adsorption, desorption isotherms at 77 K. The specific surface area and pore volume of the A-MWNTs were analyzed by BET equation, BJH method, and t-plot method. $CO_2$ capture capacity as a function of temperature was measured by temperature programmed desorption (TPD). From the results, the amine treatment increased the basicity and nitrogen content of the A-MWNTs. The $CO_2$ adsorption capacity of the amine-nontreated A-MWNTs showed the highest value at room temperature and then greatly decreased with increasing the temperature. However, the amine-treated A-MWNTs presented a softer slope with temperature compared to the amine-nontreated ones. It was due to the strong interactions between $CO_2$ and amino groups presented on the carbon surfaces studied.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.12 no.9
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• pp.1005-1010
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• 2003

For the purpose of surveying any possibility of anchoring titanium dioxide on activated carbons to promote their activities as catalysts and/or adsorbents, two activated carbons were oxidized with ammonium peroxydisulfate and followed by anchoring titanium dioxide. The anchoring of titanium dioxide on the oxidized activated carbons were performed via the adsorption of tetrabutyltitanate, hydrolysis with deionized water, and calcination. The effect of oxidizing and anchoring treatment on the surface element composition, surface area, and pore texture were analyzed by XPS, BET and TPD. The oxidation of activated carbons with ammonium peroxydisulfate introduced carboxyl groups on the surface of activated carbons and these carboxyl groups promoted the anchoring of titanium oxide on the activated carbons. However, the treatments affected the surface area and the porosity of activated carbons.