Thermal regeneration of an activated carbon exhausted with different substituted phenols Original Research Article

The thermal desorption process of phenol, m-aminophenol, p-cresol and p-nitrophenol from an activated carbon has been studied. For this purpose, the activated carbon-phenolic compound system was heated to 1100 K in a He flow following determination of weight loss and the evolution of light gases by a thermobalance and by mass spectrometry, respectively. Results showed that during the heat treatment, part of the phenol evolved from the activated carbon and was deposited at the outlet of the reactor and part underwent degradation reactions to light gases and to a residue that remained on the surface of the activated carbon. Finally, the variation of the adsorption capacity of the activated carbon after several adsorption-regeneration cycles has also been studied.