Activated carbon is a carbonic material having many fine openings connected with each other. It can be classified, based on its shape, into powdery activated carbon and granular activated carbon.
Many products are commercially available, offering the features of the individual materials.
Activated carbon adsorbs organic substances selectively. Like other adsorption methods, activated carbon has its own restrictions. When it adsorbs a given amount of organic substances and is saturated, it no longer serves as an adsorbent. Saturated granular activated carbon can be regenerated, but a regeneration equipment is expensive. Activated-carbon adsorption equipment for treatment of plating wastewater are small and do not have a regeneration equipment.