Abstract

Herein, we thoroughly investigate the role of the turbostratic structure, surface area and pore size of activated carbon supports on catalytic behaviour of 2 wt% Ni catalysts in aqueous phase hydrotreatment of drinking water contaminated by trichloroethylene (TCE) in batch and flow mode. Carbon materials with different physicochemical properties were obtained from the same parent amorphous material via the pretreatment procedure. Both carbons and Ni catalysts were characterized by BET, TPR, XRD, STEM, HRTEM, XAS and TPH on different stages of their biography. The studies showed the significant impact of turbostratic support structure as well as pore distribution on catalytic behaviour of nickel catalysts. Ni uniformly dispersed on mesoporous turbostratic carbon exhibited the highest efficiency in water purification. Additionally, we showed unique results of continuous flow water purification. Application of the flow mode plays the beneficial role in water hydrotreatment, which was proved for the two catalysts with negligible activity in batch mode. Our promising results open completely new perspectives in water purification.