Abstract
Zeolite and activated carbon have been generally used for the adsorption separation process. Zeolite is known as polar adsorbent and activated carbon as non-polar adsorbent. A zeolite/carbon composite adsorbent from the combination of zeolite and activated carbon that consists of hydrophilic and lipophilic fractions was developed and investigated. A surfactant was used as a carbon source, and a functional group of activated carbon is deposited on the surface of zeolite. The effects of the surfactant concentration, carbonization temperature, and carbonization time on adsorption capacity were examined. The optimum condition was found to be a carbonization time of 90 min, a carbonization temperature of 750°C, and a surfactant concentration of 0.07 mol/l. The breakthrough time for H2S of the developed adsorbent was 20.5 min, 4.5 times higher than that of raw zeolite (4.4 min).
