Sharif Digital Repository

The amount of fresh water suitable for various uses is decreasing day by day. This may be due to evaporation or contamination of water or such. Heavy metal cations, dyes, oils and solvents are the most important substances that contaminate water. There are various ways to remove these contaminants, one of which is the absorption of these substances by suitable absorbents. Carbon compounds have attracted much attention among all the absorbents used so far. The aim of this study is to produce carbon aerogels from an economic and modify its structure and properties by adding graphene nanosheets. In this study, Novalak-graphene oxide (GO) gel was fabricated using solvent-saturated vapor... 

In the first part of this research, for the first time, we introduced a flexible high performance graphene-based supercapacitor using silver fiber fabric as the current collector. The silver fiber fabric offers remarkable advantages such as light weight, mechanical flexibility and ease of integration with electronic textiles, which well-suited for wearable energy storage devices. A new hybrid material of graphene-silver fiber fabric (rGO/SFF) was prepared through a facile electrophoretic deposition of graphene and being used as a binder-free flexible supercapacitor electrode. In order to obtain the optimum condition, the effect of deposition time was investigated and a duration time of 10... 

In this study, granular activated carbon has been modified by potassium nickel hexacyanoferrate ( KNCF), sodium dodecyl sulfate(SDS) and ammonium per sulfate(APS) as new adsorbents for cesium, cobalt and chromium(VI), respectively. The prepared adsorbents were characterized using powder X-ray diffraction(XRD), nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm data, infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy(SEM-EDS) and their adsorption performance were investigated. The effect of various parameters like the initial pH value of the solution, contact time, temperature, strength ionic of the solution, interference ions and the initial concentration of... 

Activated Carbon as a highly efficient and low price absorbent has manifold functions in separation and absorption processes in liquid or gas phases. These applications in liquid phase include bleaching in sugar syrup, water and wastewater treatment and in gas phase utilizing them in gas masks and solvent recycling process. Wide variety of base materials could be used to produce activated carbon. For instance rare cellulose materials -wood, coconut shell, Pyrenees and agricultural wastes-, carbon materials-coal, petroleum coke, tar- and polymer materials- tires and plastics wastes- could be mentioned. In this thesis, feasibility of producing activated carbon based on using walnut, almond... 

The search for sustainable and clean energy sources to replace fossil fuels has become one of the most important scientific and technological challenges today due to the threat of fossil fuel shortages and environmental pollution. Therefore, the need for clean energy production and storage resources, including supercapacitors, has increased day by day. Today, supercapacitors have been considered suitable for energy storage due to their high-power density, appropriate energy density, long cycle life, and high safety. The aim of the present study was to obtain activated carbon fabric as electrode material in electrochemical energy storage applications and specifically supercapacitors. The... 

During fuel combustion, aromatic sulfur compounds in energy fuels convert into sulfur oxides, which cause major environmental problems such as acidic rain, global warming, and air pollution. Absorption desulfurization is one of the promising and economical methods to remove these sulfur compounds from fuels. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of nanoporous materials that are of interest for use as adsorbents due to their high specific surface area, unique surface adsorption properties, high adsorption capacity, tunable porosity, flexible dynamic behavior, and diversity in functional and metal groups. In this research, we first synthesized five metal-organic frameworks, namely... 

Tehran Refinery, as an industrial center that has significant water consumption in Tehran, intends to use the flow of water from the treatment plant south of Tehran after final preparation, with the aim of managing water resources and meeting its needs. And it uses a biological activated carbon (BACF) filter to reduce the DOC concentration. In these filters, the removal of organic matter is performed by the adsorption process as well as the biodegradation process by microorganisms grown on activated carbon. The presence of biofilm leads to continuous bio-regeneration of activated carbon during the water treatment process. Therefore, in this study, by examining the performance of these... 

In the present thesis, the adsorption ability of the functionalized magnetic nano-particles supported on the walnut and almond based activated carbons was evaluated to prepare the efficient and low cost adsorbents for removal of Pb(II), Cr(VI) and Hg(II) ions aqueous solutions in the presence of salinity. The activated carbons were derived from almond and walnut shell by the physical activation method. The functionalized nano-magnetic activated carbons were synthesized by co-precipitation consisting of AC(almond)@Fe3O4@SiO2-NH2-COOH and AC(walnut)@Fe3O4-NH2-COOH which were modified by the oxygen containing functional groups to enhance the adsorption capacity. The prepared carbonaceous... 

Activated carbon, as an adsorbent with a high adsorption capacity and low cost, has many applications in liquid and gas adsorption processes. Among the adsorption of liquid phase, there are examples of drinking water purification, wastewater treatment, food industry, brewery, chemical separation (acids, amines, glycerin and glycols), enzymes ... and in adsorption from the gas phase there are examples of removing toxic compounds Containing sulfur and recycling sulfur, purifying biogas, use in gas masks, etc. Various materials can be used as raw material to make activated carbon. Materials such as walnut, almonds, coconut, pine, corn, etc. In this thesis, a feasibility study on the production... 

In this thesis was investigated the effect of solid retention time (SRT), Hydraulic retention time (HRT), activated carbon and suspended carrier on styrene and ethylbenzene biological removal and also on membrane fouling. In addition to the typical analysis (COD, MLSS, MLVSS, and SVI), the flocculation ability, sludge particle size distribution (PSD), FTIR analysis, excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy, soluble microbial product (SMP), extracellular polymeric substance (EPS), microscopic observations, microbial activities, microorganism population, and filamentous bacteria are considered to determine sludge characteristics. This study was done in five sections: in the... 

Biodegradation is an effective method for removal of hazardous organic compounds such as styrene and ethylbenzene from petrochemical wastewaters. Although using this method for wastewater treatment meets (satisfies) the industrial standards, still these methods have significant disadvantages. Active sludge systems can not be effective enough due to the volatility and recalcitrance of styrene and ethylbenzene and a significant amount of volatile organic compounds exists in the discharging air. In order to reduce or totally remove this amount of pollutants in the discharging air, Membrane Bioreactors are used. One of the main problems of these systems is membrane fouling. In this thesis the... 

Emission of aromatic and aliphatic compounds to atmosphere is a major environmental concern for many urban societies. Catalytic oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is an efficient and low operating cost technology for reduction of air pollution.
First, dispersed copper oxide nano-catalysts supported on almond shell-based activated carbon were prepared for catalytic oxidation of toluene in air. The Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to express the catalyst removal efficiency in terms of catalyst metal loading and calcination temperature. Calcination temperature had a significant effect on the catalyst activity only at high metal loadings (upper 8% wt.). Two different... 

One of the methods for adsorption of natural gas that has economical, operational and environmental preferences as an alternative energy source is storage as an adsorbed phase in porous material. ANG is superior to CNG and LNG technologies in terms of economy and safety. Carbonaceous nanostructures with pore diameter of 0.8-1.4 nm can be proper adsorbents for methane adsorption. In this work, cellulose and lignin which form lignocellulosic material’s structure, has been used as precursor for producing activated carbon. The activated carbon prepared has been used as adsorbent for adsorption of methane. The use of hydrothermal pretreatment followed by carbonization and chemical activation is... 

In this project, the feasibility of hydrocarbon waste water treatment with low concentration by physical- chemical treatment methods will be discussed. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the feasibility of reusing the water outlet of the oil and gas refineries, in the region of ASALUYEH where there is an urgent need for water. By using activated carbon and wooden absorbent (absorption method) efficiency of this method was determined. Both coagulation and flocculation methods were investigated. To design and optimize various operating conditions on the adsorption process the RSM method was used. Temperature, residence time, feed concentration, amount of adsorbent, and adsorbent ... 

Heavy metals such as lead, chromium, nickel are considered as environmental pollutants. These substances are highly toxic and dangerous to humans and other organisms at low concentrations and many problems are caused by them. Chromium belongs to the group of heavy and toxic metals. Form 6-valent chromium for humans is considered a definite carcinogen and also creates other problems. One common method of chromium removal is chemical precipitation which caused a large volume of waste. Other methods such as ion exchange, solvent extraction, reverse osmosis and biological methods are used to remove chromium. Adsorption is another effective method with very few disadvantages compared to other... 

Nowadays, increased pollutants in the air threat the society health condition and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are the most hazardous ones among them. In the present study, catalytic oxidation as a prominent of the VOCs removal method from air, have attracted attentions due to high removal efficiency and suitable kinetic reaction. Because of its common industrial applications, toluene is intended to be eliminated through a low cost carbon supported catalyst which is synthesised in the laboratory. Construction method, carbonaceous support type, catalyst metal and its load, calcination temperature and time are among influencing design characteristics. A combination of Impregnation and... 

Natural gas (NG) has emerged as an alternative energy source in transportation sector as it provides clean combustion and hence lowers exhaust pollution. NG can be stored as an adsorbed phase in porous materials and is referred to ANG. The use of adsorbent materials for storing NG, at relatively low pressure (3.5–4 MPa), is a possibility for making ANG technology competitive with CNG. Among all adsorbents, carbon nanostructures with pore diameter (0.8-1.4 nm) has shown the highest adsorption capacity of natural gas. In the present study, cellulose has been used as the carbonaceous precursor and Activated Carbon (AC) has been prepared using hydrothermal carbonization of cellulose followed by... 

CO2 as a green house gas plays a significant role in the global warming and weather changes. Absorption by means of amine solutions is the main industrial technique for separating of CO2 from gas mixtures. Hazards associated with high temperature during solvent recovery, large size of equipment, corrosion, solvent degradation, and other reasons has made researchers to look for alternative processes such as adsorption. The aim of this study was to synthesis and modify the nano adsorbent for CO2 capture. To fulfill this purpose, various nano silica structures were synthesized and the amount of adsorption of each sample was determined. To investigate the performance capability nano_adsorbents,... 

In this research performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) in continuous flow mode was studied. Different anodic chambers were tested and it was found that granular activated carbons (GACs) produced the highest power density (1228 mW/m3) in comparison with multiple anodes (731 mW/m3), single anode (294 mW/m3) and polymeric packings (40 mW/m3). It was also shown that in a plug-anodic chamber (PAC) the power output is reduced by reducing agitation of anodic volume. Adding more GACs to anodic chamber results in power increase, however by increasing occupied volume from 80% to 100% the power increase was negligible in result of cathodic reactions limitations. Feed flowrate was increased from... 

Some of the thermal power plants use heavy fuel oil as an auxiliary fuel instead of the fuel gas, especially in the cold seasons. In these plants, in order to reduce fuel viscosity, heavy fuel oil is heated in several stages including fuel storage tank, connection lines and oil supply to burner by heat exchange with returned steam from the turbine, which can lead to fuel leakage into the condensates. This contamination is in addition to the contamination that has resulted from leaking seals on steam driven equipments, such as pumps and turbines. Reusing these contaminated condensates as boiler feed water can lead to coking of hydrocarbons and deposition of a hard scale on boiler tube walls....