Selecting n-pentane, methylene dichloride, ethyl ether, three
kinds of low boiling point organic solvents, and dodecylbenzenesulphonic
acid sodium, a type of surfactant solution, the regeneration
of exhausted activated carbon used in advanced treatment of
coking wastewater has been studied in this article. We studied
the desorption effects of the different solvents on the exhausted
activated carbon, the regeneration conditions and the influential
factors. Adopting gas chromatography–mass spectrometry
(GC–MS) for analysis, the mechanisms of different organic solvents
with different regeneration abilities for exhausted activated carbon
were also studied intensively in this study. This research was performed
by comparing the changes in the chemical substance profile
of the activated carbon before and after the desorption treatment.
This study provides insight on the application of organic solvents
for the regeneration of activated carbon used in wastewater treatments.