Superfine powdered activated carbon (S-PAC) is an adsorbent material with the promise of properties that allow for rapid adsorption of small molecule contaminants. To explore the potential for rapid adsorption among varying activated carbon types, seven commercially available activated carbons were obtained and pulverized to produce S-PAC particles less than 1 μm in diameter. The carbons were chosen to include several types of common carbons produced from coal precursors as well as a wood-based carbon and a coconut shell-based carbon. In this study, the S-PACs and their parent PACs were tested for the adsorption of three aromatic compounds—2-phenylphenol, biphenyl, and phenanthrene—with and without the presence of natural organic matter (NOM). Adsorption rates were increased for adsorption onto S-PAC as compared to PAC in all trials without NOM and in most trials with NOM. Faster adsorption onto S-PAC was found to be a result of a smaller particle size, lower surface oxygen content, larger pore diameters, and neutral pH_PZC. Adsorption of a planar compound, phenanthrene, increased the most between PAC and S-PAC, while adsorption of 2-phenylphenol, a nonplanar compound, was impacted the least. Phenanthrene additionally was minimally impacted by the presence of NOM while 2-phenylphenol adsorption declined severely in the presence of NOM.

超细粉状活性炭（S-PAC）是一种吸附材料，其性能有望实现小分子污染物的快速吸附。为了探索各种活性炭类型之间快速吸附的潜力，获得了7种市售活性炭并将其粉碎以生产直径小于1μm的S-PAC颗粒。选择的碳包括从煤炭前体生产的几种普通碳，以及木基碳和椰壳基碳。在这项研究中，测试了S-PAC及其母体PAC在存在和不存在天然有机物（NOM）的情况下对三种芳族化合物（2-苯基苯酚，联苯和菲）的吸附。在所有不使用NOM的试验中和大多数使用NOM的试验中，与PAC相比，S-PAC的吸附速率均增加。发现更快的吸附在S-PAC上的原因是较小的粒径，较低的表面氧含量，较大的孔径和中性的pH_PZC。在PAC和S-PAC之间，平面化合物菲的吸附增加最多，而对非平面化合物2-苯基苯酚的吸附影响最小。另外，NOM的存在对菲的影响最小，而NOM的存在使2-苯基苯酚的吸附严重下降。