Pilot-Scale Investigation of Micropollutant Removal with Granular and Powdered Activated Carbon

• Published in: Water, air, and soil pollution Vol. 226; no. 1; pp. 1 - 10
• Main Authors: Meinel, F., Ruhl, A. S., Sperlich, A., Zietzschmann, F., Jekel, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-01-2015; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Activated carbon; Adsorption; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Biogeochemical cycles; Blocking; Carbon; Carbon cycle; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Drinking water; Earth and Environmental Science; Effluents; Environment; Environmental monitoring; Experiments; Filtration; Grain size; Hydrogeology; Hydrologic cycle; Immobilization; Investigations; Isotherms; Micropollutants; Phosphorus; Pilot plants; Pollutant removal; Pore size; Porosity; Powders; Purification; R&D; Research & development; Sedimentation & deposition; Sewage; Soil pollution; Soil Science & Conservation; Tertiary wastewater treatment; Waste water; Wastewater; Wastewater treatment; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Water treatment; Germany, Berlin; Granular activated carbon (GAC); Advanced wastewater treatment; Organic micropollutants; Adsorption; Powdered activated carbon (PAC); Pilot-scale
• ISSN: 0049-6979; 1573-2932
• DOI: 10.1007/s11270-014-2260-y

Activated carbon is investigated as adsorptive barrier for organic micropollutants (OMP) within the Berlin water cycle. In a pilot plant using granular activated carbon (GAC) as upper layer in dual-media filtration, OMP concentrations in treated wastewater could be reduced without any negative impact on filtration efficiency. OMP breakthroughs occurred after shorter runtimes than estimated according to isotherm experiments with powdered activated carbon (PAC). Batch adsorption tests comparing the used GAC to new GAC showed that the capacity of the used GAC was not exhausted, indicating that besides direct site competition, pore blocking is also responsible for the poor GAC performance. A pilot plant application of PAC of the same type as GAC showed significantly higher OMP removals at lower dosages, taking advantage of immobilization of PAC particles in the filters. Both PAC and GAC applications can be integrated into tertiary wastewater treatment without significant constructional changes.