ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses modem water treatment plants use powdered activated carbon for control of tastes and odors of biological or industrial origin in batch processes. The pore size and pore size distribution of activated carbon are determined by an analysis of gas adsorption isotherms in the range where capillary condensation accompanies physical adsorption. Activated carbons have been produced from every conceivable form of carbonaceous substance. The most common materials are wood, coal, peat, lignin, nut shells, sawdust, bone, and petroleum coke. The structure of activated carbon was shown, from X-ray diffraction studies, to be composed of microcrystallites consisting of fused hexagonal rings of carbon atoms with a structure similar to graphite. Adsorption by activated carbon in aqueous solutions is influenced by several physicochemical properties of the organic solutes.
