TiO₂ coated activated carbon: A regenerative technology for water recovery

Two widespread practices in water treatment are, removal of pollutants via adsorption onto activated carbon, and, oxidation of pollutants using a photocatalyst slurry and ultraviolet radiation. The ultimate goal of this research is to combine the adsorptive properties of carbon and the oxidative properties of titanium dioxide (TiO₂), and construct a photocatalytically regenerative carbon filter for 100% water recovery. The premise is that the activated carbon, coated with TiO₂, will capture the compounds through traditional filtration and adsorption. Once the carbon becomes exhausted, it can be regenerated in-situ by turning on the UV lamps thereby activating the photocatalyst. This paper presents a comparison of the adsorption-oxidative capacities of three commercially available carbons, F400, HD4000, and BioNuchar, coated via mechanofusion with loadings of 1%, 3%, and 5% by volume of TiO₂, as well as early data on the regenerative capacity of HD4000 and F400 loaded with 1% TiO₂ via boil-deposition.