A new method for regenerating activated carbon by thermal desorption with liquid water under subcritical conditions Original Research Article

A new procedure for regenerating activated carbon based on thermal desorption with liquid water under subcritical conditions (300 °C and 120 atm) is proposed. The method was assayed with three types of activated carbons exhausted with phenols (phenol and 4-nitrophenol), textile dyes (sirius red C.I.: 29080 and orange II C.I.: 15510) and pesticides (carbofuran and atrazine). In all cases, total recovery of the adsorption capacity was achieved, even after seven regenerations. The mechanism and factors involved in regeneration were investigated using the TPD technique in liquid phase. The differences and advantages of this procedure as compared with others, such as thermal regeneration or regeneration with supercritical CO2 are discussed.