Effect of Acid Pretreatment on Activated Carbon Surface Properties and PFBS Adsorption Performance
Michael Lilla (Not Pictured)
Ben Zobel Paper Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering
Jonah Semyonov (Not Pictured) Paper Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering
Paper Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering
Adsorption onto activated carbon (AC) remains one of the most practical treatment strategies; however, adsorption performance strongly depends on surface chemistry and textural properties. This study evaluated the impact of different pretreatment methods on AC surface characteristics and PFBS adsorption capacity. Activated carbon samples were pretreated using (i) deionized (DI) water, (ii) DI water followed by acetone, and (iii) DI water + acetone + 0.1 M HCl. Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis showed that AC pretreated with DI water exhibited the highest surface area, followed by DI + acetone + HCl and DI + acetone treatments. Despite its lower BET surface area compared to DI-water-treated AC, the HCl-pretreated sample demonstrated the highest PFBS adsorption capacity. This indicates that adsorption performance is not governed solely by surface area but is significantly influenced by surface chemistry. Acid pretreatment likely introduces or enhances protonated functional groups, such as carboxylic acid (–COOH) groups, thereby strengthening electrostatic and specific interactions with PFBS molecules. These findings highlight the critical role of surface functionalization in improving PFAS adsorption and suggest that targeted acid pretreatment may enhance both surface area and adsorption efficiency.
Advisors: Seyed Javad Amirfakhri, Ph.D.
Subject Area: Chemical Engineering
Type: Poster
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Jim and Katie Krause CNR Student Research Symposium
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