Activated carbon for removal of taste and odor compounds from water

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12558667-B2
Application number	US-202217961203-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 6, 2022
Priority date	Oct 6, 2021
Publication date	Feb 24, 2026
Grant date	Feb 24, 2026

Abstract

In general, the present disclosure is directed to a soyhull-based activated carbon. The soyhull-based activated carbon comprises a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of from about 750 m 2 /g to about 2900 m 2 /g and a micropore volume of from about 0.50 cm 3 /g to about 1.2 cm 3 /g.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A soyhull-based activated carbon, comprising a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of from about 750 m 2 /g to about 2900 m 2 /g and a micropore volume of from about 0.50 cm 3 /g to about 1.2 cm 3 /g, wherein the soyhull-based activated carbon comprises an overall positive surface charge as measured by the pH of point of zero charges (pH PZC ) of at least about 7.0.

2 . The soyhull-based activated carbon of claim 1 , further comprising an overall positive charge as measured by the pH PZC of from about 8.5 to about 10.4.

3 . The soyhull-based activated carbon of claim 1 , wherein the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area is from about 1790 m 2 /g to about 2850 m 2 /g.

4 . The soyhull-based activated carbon of claim 1 , wherein the micropore volume is from about 0.80 cm 3 /g to about 1.1 cm 3 /g.

5 . The soyhull-based activated carbon of claim 1 , wherein a mesopore volume is from about 0.20 cm 3 /g to about 0.40 cm 3 /g.

6 . The soyhull-based activated carbon of claim 1 , wherein the total pore volume is from about 0.90 cm 3 /g to about 1.50 cm 3 /g.

7 . A method of removing a contaminant from an aqueous medium post-chlorination, the method comprising:
contacting the aqueous medium comprising one or more contaminants with a soyhull-based activated carbon, wherein the soyhull-based activated carbon comprises an overall positive surface charge as measured by the pH of point of zero charges (pH PZC ) of at least about 7.0; adsorbing the one or more contaminants by the soyhull-based activated carbon, wherein, in about 90 minutes, there is a 75% reduction in the concentration of the one or more contaminants in the aqueous medium comprising at least about 5 mg/L of total organic carbon.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the contaminant comprises a cyanobacteria-derived metabolite.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the cyanobacteria-derived metabolite comprises 2-Methylisoborneol (MIB), geosmin, or a combination thereof.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the contaminant comprises a small molecule.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the small molecule comprises a molecular weight of from about 100 g/mol to about 500 g/mol.

12 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the aqueous medium is selected from distilled, deionized, or natural waters.

13 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the contaminant comprises a molecular weight of less than about 500 g/mol.

14 . A method for forming an activated carbon comprising:
carbonizing a soyhull in the absence of oxygen; activating the carbonized soyhull according to a physical or chemical activation process, wherein the activation process comprises pyrolyzing the carbonized soyhull at a temperature of about 800° C. or less, wherein the method of activating the carbonized soyhull comprises:
incubating the carbonized soyhull with a chemical activating sept for about 6 hours or great; and
drying the carbonized soyhull mixed with the chemical activating agent at a temperature of about 105° C. or greater prior to the step of pyrolyzing the carbonized soyhull, wherein the chemical activating agent and carbonized soyhull are incubated at a weight ratio of from about 1:1 to about 6:1.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the chemical activating agent is a hydroxide activating agent.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the hydroxide activating agent comprises potassium hydroxide, lithium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, cesium hydroxide, rubidium hydroxide, or a combination thereof.

17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the carbonized soyhull is pyrolyzed at a temperature of from about 700° C. to about 900° C.

18 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the carbonization is carried out for a time period of about one hour or more in the absence of oxygen.

19 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the carbonized soyhull is pyrolyzed in the presence of steam.

20 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising incubating and carbonizing the soyhull in a one-step process.

Assignees

• Univ Clemson
• Univ Clemson Res Foundation

Inventors

• Pilla Srikanth
• Sternberg James Scott
• Karanfil Tanju
• Ariturk Esat

Classifications

• B01J20/28064

  being in the range 500-1000 m2/g · CPC title

• B01J20/28066

  being more than 1000 m2/g · CPC title

• B01J20/28076 Primary

  being more than 1.0 ml/g · CPC title

• B01J20/3078

  Thermal treatment, e.g. calcining or pyrolizing · CPC title

• B01J20/20 Primary

  comprising free carbon; comprising carbon obtained by carbonising processes · CPC title