Les carbones activés, de par leur nanotexture développée, sont performants pour l’élimination de micropolluants organiques à l’état de traces. Ils trouvent une place prépondérante au sein des usines de traitement pour la dépollution de l’eau. Néanmoins, l’adsorption de ces composés, conduit à la saturation du matériau selon un processus d’adsorption irréversible. Un procédé électrochimique capable d’opérer à la régénération in situ des adsorbants carbonés chargés en polluants est proposé. L’applicabilité du procédé a été évaluée sur une grande diversité de micropolluants rencontrés dans les effluents traités. Ces molécules s’adsorbent préférentiellement au niveau des ultramicropores via des interactions dispersives de type π-π. La régénération électrochimique de l’adsorbant s’effectue grâce à l’application d’une polarisation, qui génère une interface chargée et induit un champ électrostatique entre les deux électrodes. La décomposition de l’électrolyte, confiné dans les pores, engendre des effets de pH localisés, responsables de la dissociation de la molécule adsorbée. La désorption sous polarisation fait intervenir des répulsions électrostatiques entre la surface chargée du matériau carboné et le polluant dissocié. Ce procédé de régénération, applicable à de nombreux micropolluants, montre des efficacités différentes selon de la nature du polluant adsorbé. La désorption est favorisée pour des polluants de petite taille, facilement ionisables et solubles ; des efficacités de régénération élevées (jusqu’à 80 %) à partir du quatrième cycle sont reportées. Une partie des polluants est piégée irréversiblement soit parce qu’ils sont bloqués dans les ultramicropores, soit parce qu’ils s’adsorbent au niveau de sites énergétiques ou via des interactions plus spécifiques. L’obstruction cumulative de la porosité par un adsorbat volumineux par exemple, engendre une diminution des efficacités de régénération avec la répétition des cycles. / Due to their developed porosity, the activated carbons are efficient for the removal of organic micropollutants at trace concentration. They find an important place in wastewater treatment for water decontamination. Nevertheless, the adsorption of these compounds leads to the adsorbent saturation and therefore makes the process irreversible. We have developed an electrochemical process which is able to operate to the in situ adsorbent regeneration. The process applicability was assessed on a wide range of micropollutants, found in the treated effluents. These molecules are adsorbed in the ultramicropores through π-π interactions. The electrochemical regeneration of the loaded adsorbent is performed by applying a polarization, which generates an electrically charged carbon surface and induced an electrostatic field between the two electrodes. The electrochemical decomposition of the electrolyte inside the porosity, leads to local pH effects which are responsible of the dissociation of the adsorbed molecule. The desorption under polarization implies electrostatic repulsions between the polarized carbon surface and the dissociated pollutant. This regeneration process can be broadened to numerous micropollutants and shows an efficiency which depends on the adsorbat nature. We have shown that the desorption of small pollutants which are easily ionisable and soluble is promoted. High desorption levels until 80 % after four desorption cycle are indeed reported. A part of the adsorbed molecules is trapped irreversibly either because they are blocked in the ultramicropores or due to the micropollutant adsorption at high energy sites and/or through specific strong interactions. For example, the porosity obstruction caused by a voluminous molecule leads to the decrease of the regeneration efficiency along the cycles repetition.

This thesis examines the use of electrochemically treated viscose rayon based activated carbon cloth (ACC) for the removal of metal ions from aqueous effluent streams. Two types of treatment were performed: (i) electrochemical oxidation and (ii) electrochemical reduction to enhance cation and anion sorption capacities of the ACC, respectively. Electrochemical oxidation resulted in a loss of 61% BET surface area due to blockage of pores through formation of carboxylic acidic groups but its cation exchange capacity and oxygen content increased by 365% and 121%, respectively. The optimum constant current at which a combination of applied current and oxidation time at any extent of oxidation to produce ACC of maximum cation exchange capacity was found to be 1.1 A, with voltage of 4.2 V and current density of 0.8 mA/m2. Batch sorption experiments showed that the maximum copper and lead sorption capacities for electrochemically oxidised ACC increased 17 and 4 times, respectively, for noncompetitive sorption and 8.8 and 8.6 times, respectively for competitive sorption. Therefore, electrochemically oxidised ACC is an effective adsorbent for treating aqueous solution contaminated with copper/lead in both single component and multi-component systems. Industrial wastewaters are multicomponent systems, therefore, electrochemical oxidation of ACC is an efficient way of enhancing lead and copper ions sorptive capacity for industrial wastewater treatment. Electrochemical reduction resulted in a loss of 28% BET surface area due to formation of ether groups but its anion exchange capacity increased by 292%. The optimum constant current at which a combination of applied current and reduction time at any extent of reduction to produce ACC of maximum anion exchange capacity was found to be 5.5 A, with voltage of 9.8 V and current density of 6.4 mA/m2. Batch sorption experiments showed that the maximum chromium(VI) sorption capacity for electrochemically reduced ACC increased 2.12 times, with highest maximum chromium(VI) sorption capacity of 3.8 mmol/g at solution pH 4. Most industrial wastewaters contaminated with chromium(VI) are highly acidic, therefore, electrochemical reduction of ACC is an efficient way of enhancing chromium(VI) sorptive capacity for industrial wastewater treatment.

Capacitive deionization is a promising technology for purification and desalination of brackish water with great advantages over current technologies due to its low operating cost and high-water recovery ratio. Most of the system studied relies on the adsorption/desorption capacity of activated carbon electrodes due to its high surface area. However, its specific adsorption capacity is limited since the adsorption is predominantly on the surface of the electrodes. In this thesis we propose the use of polyaniline as a chloride-ion adsorption material. Polyaniline is a redox polymer able to accommodate anions in several of its three states when subjected to an external voltage. To this end, we synthesized polyaniline by electrodeposition technique and its electrochemical behavior was studied. A hybrid CDI system was assembled, using PANI as anode material and activated carbon cloth as cathode, showing outstanding adsorption of 37.26 mg/g Cl at current densities of 250 A/g. The energy consumption of this system was of 0.4979 kWh/m3. Its stability was evaluated over 50 cycles with negligible capacity loss. Along with its use in a CDI system, the aim of this thesis was to understand the mechanisms of operation of this material, by means of its physical and electrochemical characterization, as well as its efficiency and stability through the use of this material in capacitive deionization cells. / Kapacitiv avjonisering är en lovande teknik för rening och avsaltning av bräckt vatten med stora fördelar jämfört med nuvarande teknik på grund av dess låga driftskostnader och höga vattenåtervinningsgrad. De flesta av de studerade systemen bygger på adsorptions/desorptionskapaciteten hos elektroder av aktivt kol på grund av dess stora yta. Dess specifika adsorptionskapacitet är dock begränsad eftersom adsorptionen huvudsakligen sker på elektrodernas yta. I den här avhandlingen föreslår vi att polyanilin används som adsorptionsmaterial för kloridjoner. Polyanilin är en redoxpolymer som kan ta emot anjoner i flera av sina tre tillstånd när den utsätts för en extern spänning. För detta ändamål syntetiserade vi polyanilin genom elektrodepositionsteknik och dess elektrokemiska beteende studerades. Ett hybrid CDI-system monterades med PANI som anodmaterial och aktiverad kolduk som katod, vilket visade en enastående adsorption av 37,26 mg/g Cl vid en strömtäthet på 250 A/g. Energiförbrukningen för detta system var 0,4979 kWh/m3. Systemets stabilitet utvärderades över 50 cykler med försumbar kapacitetsförlust. Förutom användningen i ett CDI-system var syftet med denna avhandling att förstå detta materials funktionsmekanismer genom fysisk och elektrokemisk karakterisering samt dess effektivitet och stabilitet genom användning av detta material i kapacitiva avjoniseringsceller.