| abstract |
Birch-based biomass was physically and chemically activated generating highly porous carbons that showed excellent ability to adsorb heavy metals (Fe, Hg, Pb, Zn, Al and Cu) and PAH (fluorene and phenanthrene) from water. The method of producing activating highly porous Birch-based carbons includes providing bark free dried birch hardwood chips, subjecting the chips to a pyrolysis process at a temperature in a range from about 250 °C to about 1000 °C to give a fully carbonized product, and subjecting the fully carbonized product to a quenching process, in an absence of oxygen, to rapidly reduce the temperature of the fully carbonized product. The concentrations of these heavy metals and PAH were significantly reduced and can be greater than ca. 99.9%. Certain pesticides were adsorbed using the activated carbon. Importantly, this product improved water quality. Heavy metals and PAH/pesticides were determined using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), respectively. |