The optimum conditions for activated carbon regeneration
using n-pentane as the regenerative agent
3.3.1. Influence of regeneration time on the regenerative
efficiency
For this section, the exhausted activated carbon was added to
n-pentane, and different times for regeneration were investigated.
The dried, regenerated activated carbon was then exposed to coking
wastewater again, and the regeneration efficiencies of the activated
carbon were compared. The results can be seen in Fig. 5.
Fig. 5 shows that with the extension of the regeneration time,
the regeneration efficiency performance increased at first and then
decreased. Thismaybe attributed to the fact that at a certain period,
the main role of the n-pentane was to desorb any compounds
adsorbed on the activated carbon surface. As time increased, the
activated carbon will continue to absorb the organic solvent and
thus reduce the regeneration efficiency. Experiments also showed
that when the regeneration time remained at 20 min, the regenerating
efficiency of activated carbon was best (75.41%).