Abstract: In this paper, the surface morphology structure of activated carbon was characterized by using SEM, and the change of absorbance of reactive dye wastewater before and after adsorption was measured by the ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer. The effects of granular activated carbon types, mesh size, dye wastewater concentration, pH value, absorption temperature and time on the adsorption decoloring effect for dye wastewater were investigated. The research results showed that coconut shell activated carbon has a better adsorption decoloring effect, compared with coal-based activated carbon and nutshell activated carbon. The larger mesh size, the better adsorption decoloring effect we can achieve. The adsorption decoloring effect of activated carbon for dye wastewater decreases linearly with the increase of dye concentration. The adsorption decoloring effect of activated carbon in the acidic condition is better than that in the alkaline environment, and the best adsorption decoloring result is obtained when pH value is 5.5. The higher the temperature, the more color can be removed. However, when the dye wastewater is heated to a certain temperature, the improvement of the adsorption decoloring effect is not significant. Before the adsorption equilibrium, the increase of absorption time has a pronounced effect on the color removal.

Key words: granular activated carbon, simulative reactive dye wastewater, adsorption decoloring, influencing factor