Using Hydrogen Peroxide to regenerate GAC?

[tigé21v]

Has anyone heard of this? Is it successful? If so, what strength H2O2 should you use, how long should you let it soak? And I'm guessing a good rinse in RO/DI when finished?
TIA

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm not sure hydrogen peroxide alone does this adequately. It seems that folks use a type of iron chemistry to regenerate GAC with hydrogen peroxide, but I'm not sure I'd bother to try that at home:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23298638

I know that some folks get some increased capacity from used GAC by microwaving it.

 

[tigé21v]

Thanks Randy.
I've added GAC to boiling water in the past. I heard it was supposed to help open up more pores. But I heated the water in the microwave first and then added it. I've never tried microwaving the GAC though, and only with unused GAC.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

here's a long thread which includes some test data that Simon generated by microwaving:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=236477