In this paper, a pulsed discharge plasma(PDP) system with a multi-needle-to-plate electrodes geometry was set up to investigate the regeneration of acid orange 7(AO7) exhausted granular activated carbon(GAC). Regeneration of GAC was studied under different conditions of peak pulse discharge voltage and water p H, as well as the modification effect of GAC by the pulse discharge process, to figure out the regeneration efficiency and the change of the GAC structure by the PDP treatment. The obtained results showed that there was an appropriate peak pulse voltage and an optimal initial p H value of the solution for GAC regeneration. Analyses of scanning electron microscope(SEM), Boehm titration, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller(BET), Horvath-Kawazoe(HK), and X-ray Diffraction(XRD) showed that there were more mesopore and macropore in the regenerated GAC and the structure turned smoother with the increase of discharge voltage;the amount of acidic functional groups on the GAC surface increased while the amount of basic functional groups decreased after the regeneration process. From the result of the XRD analysis,there were no new substances produced on the GAC after PDP treatment.
