Fundamental study on the thermal regeneration stages of exhausted activated carbons: kinetics

In this work the thermal regeneration of activated carbons saturated with p-nitrophenol has been analysed. By thermogravimetry, it was possible to elucidate the different events taking place during the thermal treatment, and relate them to the type of adsorption in the interfacial system. It was found that the mass loss during thermal treatment comprises a complex process in which different stages are involved, such as drying, desorption of physisorbed adsorbate, breaking up of surface functional groups, cracking of products from adsorbate–surface-specific interactions, etc. The analysis of the textural and surface chemistry characteristics of the pristine and regenerated adsorbent confirmed the thermal desorption mechanisms. Moreover, a kinetic study based on temperature-programmed desorption and Suzuki models was performed, using thermogravimetry data at different heating rates (5–20 K min^?1). From this analysis, the values of activation energy involved in each degradation step were estimated.