189 | Page ACTIVATED CARBONS AS POTENTIAL ADSORBENTS FOR REMOVAL OF ORGANIC POLLUTANTS FROM WATER/WASTEWATER: A REVIEW Rashmi Dhawan 1* , Sandeep Kumar 2 , Amrit Kaur 3 , Manoj Kumar Choudhary 4 1 Department of Chemistry, S.A. Jain College, Ambala City 2 Department of Chemistry, Dyal Singh College, Karnal 3 Department of Chemistry, Sikh National College, Banga 4 Department of chemistry, Guru Nanak National College, Doraha, Distt Ludhiana ABSTRACT Activated carbon is versatile adsorbent which has extraordinarily large specific surface area, high degree of surface reactivity and tunable chemical and porous structure. Due to its remarkable properties, activated carbon find utility in many applications including environmental remediation, adsorptive removal of color and odor, catalysis, solvent recovery, energy storage, recovery of precious metals and biomedical application. In this paper, the application of activated carbons towards drinking water purification and wastewater treatment will be discussed. Different organic and inorganic chemicals are being discharged into water bodies from untreated urban and rural sanitary and domestic waste, release of toxic industrial and pharmaceutical effluents and runoff from agricultural fields and municipal corporations. This causes the pollution of ground and surface water making it unfit for drinking purpose. The contamination of water due to organic pollutants is serious issue due to their various side effects and carcinogenic nature. This review highlights the importance of activated carbons in removal of organic contaminants from drinking as well as waste water. The focus of this review will be on studies pertaining to removal of specific organic pollutants, the parameters and modification techniques to improve the adsorption efficiency of activated carbons for removal of these pollutants. Keywords: Activated Carbons, Adsorption, Organic Pollutants, Wastewater Treatment I. INTRODUCTION Scarcity of clean drinking water has become worldwide problem due to unplanned development of industries and urban areas, population expansion and uncontrolled use of natural resources. A large number of inorganic and synthetic organic compounds have been identified in surface and ground waters. Organic pollutants include pesticides, herbicides, aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons and their halogen derivatives, dyes, surfactants, organosulphur compounds, ethers, amines, nitro compounds, phenols, plasticizers, biphenyls, fertilizers,