Three activated chars obtained from end-of-life tyre pyrolysis differing in activation time (AC110 – 110 min, AC130 – 130 min, and AC150 – 150 min) were successfully used as adsorbents for the removal of model dye – Rhodamine B (RhB) from aqueous solutions. The effects of solution pH, adsorption kinetics, and equilibrium adsorption were investigated. The results showed that the adsorption was strongly pH-dependent; the highest percentage of RhB dye adsorbed was obtained at pH 2.0 and the removal efficiency decreased with an increase in solution pH. Adsorption kinetics was analyzed using pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, Weber-Morris, and Boyd kinetic models. It was found that the pseudo-second-order kinetic equation was the most appropriate for describing the adsorption kinetics and that the RhB adsorption process was controlled by a film diffusion mechanism. Adsorption equilibrium data were fitted to the Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Elovich isotherm models. The equilibrium data were best represented by the Langmuir model with the monolayer adsorption capacities of 69.96, 94.34, and 133.3 μmol/g for AC110, AC130, and AC150, respectively. It was concluded that the adsorption of RhB was closely correlated with the specific surface area (and activation time) of the activated chars.

This paper aims to show the effect of activation method of tyre pyrolysis char (TPC) on adsorption of bisphenol A (BPA) from aqueous solutions. The TPC was produced from end-of-life-tyres (ELT) feedstock in a pilot plant at 773 K. Activation was accomplished using two classical methods: physical activation withCO2 and chemical activation withKOH. The two produced adsorbents had pores ranging from micro- to macropores. Distinct differences in the BET surface areas and pore volumes between the adsorbents were displayed showing better performance of the chemically activated adsorbent for adsorption of BPA from water.

The results of the kinetic studies showed that the adsorption of BPA followed pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The Freundlich, Langmuir, Langmuir–Freundlich and Redlich–Peterson isotherm equations were used for description of the adsorption data. The Langmuir–Freundlich isotherm model best fits the experimental data for the BPA adsorption on both adsorbents. The Langmuir–Freundlich monolayer adsorption capacity, qmLF, obtained for the CO2-activated tyre pyrolysis char (AP-CO2) and KOH-activated tyre pyrolysis char (AP-KOH) were 0.473 and 0.969 mmol g��1, respectively.

This work investigates adsorption of n-hexane on activated tyre pyrolysis char (ATPC) and granular activated carbon (GAC) as a reference material in a fixed-bed column. Microwave-assisted regeneration is also considered. The adsorbed amount of n-hexane on ATPC is in the range of 37–58 mg/g. Microwave-assisted desorption of ATPC samples enables the recovery of up to 95% of adsorbed n-hexane in this non-optimized microwave setup with the efficiency of microwave energy conversion into heat of only 5–6%. For the 50% breakthrough time, ATPC and GAC are able to purify the n-hexane gas volumes in the ranges of 20–90 and 935–1240 cm3/g, respectively. While adsorption kinetics is not satisfactorily described by pseudo-first and pseudo-second order kinetic models, it is very well reflected by a family of dynamic adsorption models, which are modelled with a single logistic function. Internal diffusion is likely the rate limiting step during adsorption on ATPC, while external and internal diffusion likely plays a role in adsorption to GAC. Although microwave-assisted regeneration is performed in a general purpose microwave reactor, both adsorbents show excellent performance and are very good candidates for the adsorption process. Preliminary results show that magnetite can further reduce microwave energy consumption.