After nearly half a century in Academia studying the applications of activated carbon to real world applications, I have come to appreciate that activated carbon is easier to utilize than to understand. Dr. McLaughlin has undertaken to demystify someof the phenomena observed with activated carbon adsorption and regeneration. While much of what appears in his discussion is not common knowledge, it does represent the current thinking on the inner workings of activated carbon. Dr. McLaughlin's currentpaper first develops a coherent framework for understanding activated carbon, and then delves into the low temperature oxidation of activated carbon in air. The conditions in which such oxidation occurs are not well understood and the phenomenon has beenunrecognized by the commercial activated carbon industry. McLaughlin has identified the synergism of the slow oxidation of the granular activated carbon and the concurrent and unexpected preferential oxidation of the adsorbed organics. Such a phenomenonprovides a novel and attractive method for regenerating spent activated carbon. After 50 years, it is good to see that there are still new ideas, applications, and regeneration technologies being developed for activated carbon.
展开▼
