| In this work, the adsorption mechanisms of aromatic compounds on oxygen-containing activated carbon have been investigated. The practical application of this study is the utilization of reactivated and catalytic activated carbons to immobilize hazardous organic materials in solidification/stabilization (S/S) processes for hazardous waste treatment.;It was found that several factors can have important effects on the overall adsorption capacity of aromatic organic compounds on activated carbons. These include water adsorption, H-bonding characteristics of the adsorbate, hydrophobicity of both carbon and adsorbate, the nature of the functional group(s) attached to the adsorbate's aromatic ring, adsorption medium characteristics (aqueous or organic, pH, and ionic strength), carbon surface oxygen complexes (both composition and amount), and pore size distribution of the carbon material. Additionally, the effects of one aqueous adsorption medium property, namely solution ionic strength, on adsorption capacity, have been investigated. Experimental techniques used in this research include bottle-point method, flow microcalorimetry, ultrasonic desorption, Boehm titrations, as well as other characterization techniques.;The practical part of this study has shown that reactivated carbon has performed very well in S/S systems as a stabilizing agent. Studies using a range of characterization techniques have indicated that small amounts of carbon can effectively immobilize most of the hazardous organics targeted in this study, including phenol, aniline, naphthalene, and 2-chlorophenol. Moreover, catalytic activated carbon was found to be effective in decomposing phenol and 2-chlorophenol when used as an additive in S/S mixes. A very minimal leaching of these organics was observed using standard leaching tests. |
