Black Carbon and its Applications in Environmental Protection

Abstract

Black carbon, which is taken the sources from the products of the incomplete combustion or pyrolysis of organisms or volatile components of fossil fuels, has a large specific surface area and strong adsorption capacity for organic matters. Nowadays, black carbon has been widely used as the adsorbent or passivating agent in environmental pollution control. However, black carbon is a hydrophobic non-polar adsorbent, which results in the difficulty of dispersing in the solution without modification. Thus, in order to increase the surface oxygen-containing groups, the modification should be done before black carbon used to adsorb or inactivate heavy metal. The concepts, sources and application status of black carbon in environmental pollution control are summarized. Meanwhile, the modification methods and the application prospect of black carbon are put forward.