Developing a Competitive Recovery and Regeneration Method for a Novel Adsorbent

Adsorption is a very effective method for removal of various organic pollutants from water. Adsorbents with low cost, simplicity of operation and high removal efficiency are desirable. To make an adsorbent commercially attractive and environmentally friendly, regeneration of adsorbent is generally very important. Our research group has developed a novel graphene based adsorbent for organic compounds with potentially competitive recovery and regeneration of the adsorbent. In this work, we present an evaluation of methods for recovering and regenerating this material. Disperse blue 26 and methylene blue were used as model adsorption organics to test the recovery. To evaluate loss of adsorption capacity after each regeneration step, the material was successively loaded and regenerated. The mass loss during regeneration, correlating to the detachment of contaminants from the surface of the adsorbent, was analyzed through the use of Differential Thermogravimetric Analysis (DTG) and adsorption properties, such as surface area and pore diameter, were determined through BET analysis. The number of re-use and regeneration cycles that can be effectively utilized for this material is assessed as when the adsorption capacity falls below 75% of the virgin material. Our preliminary research indicated that heating the porous material to 550 ? for 5 hours enables high levels of regeneration and potential re-use. Our target of fiveadsorption/desorptioncycles will be evaluated