Preparation of porous activated carbon with ultra-high specific surface area and its adsorption performance for specific organic pollutants in industrial wastewater

Porous activated carbon particles (GAC-1) with ultra-high specific surface area were prepared from starch by hydrothermal carbonization and high temperature activation. The porous structure and surface morphology of GAC-1 were characterized by N2 adsorption desorption isotherm and SEM. Compared with the commercially available activated carbon with the same particle size, the porous GAC-1 with ultra-high specific surface area shows better adsorption performance for CODCr, pyrazole and chloroform in wastewater. The results show that when the amount of activated carbon in the fixed bed is 160 g/L, the removal rate of CODCr, pyrazole and chloroform is 97.3%, 96.1% and 98.0%, respectively. The effluent meets the reuse requirements of the plant (CODCr ≤ 1500 mg/L). Finally, the activated carbon was regenerated five times by simple thermal regeneration method, and the COD removal rate could still reach 87.9%.