The effectiveness of electrochemical regeneration of activated carbon fiber(ACF)saturated with oily organic wastewater was assessed by adsorption capacity of regenerated ACF achieved in the re-adsorption experiment.The effects of current density
regeneration time
pH value
electrolyte
and structure of ACF were investigated.The regeneration efficiency can reach 90% under such optimum conditions as current density 30 mA·cm-2
pH 4
15 g·L-1 NaCl
and 120 min of regeneration time
and ACFs keep high adsorption capacity after five cycles for continuous adsorption and regeneration.The micropore size distribution of the regenerated ACF is in the range from 0.5 to 1.0 nm.It is not found significant damage on the surface of the regenerated ACF or obvious decrease of its BET surface area.The UV spectra show that the electrochemical regeneration process is mainly due to the desorption and decomposition of organics generated by electrochemical oxidation.