Changes of adsorption capacity and pore distribution of biological activated carbon on advanced water treatment

Abstract

Several problems such as unpleasant odor, taste and toxic halogenated organic compounds which are produced by the reaction of organic substances with chlorine that is used for disinfection have occurred in water purification plant for drinking water. Advanced water treatment with biological activated carbon (BAC) has been focused on, but there are few papers about pore volume decrease of activated carbon in BAC. In this study, the changes in cumulative TOC removal and pore volume distribution for two types of activated carbon from a bench-scale apparatus and a mini-column apparatus, to which river water was supplied after coagulation-sedimentation for a period of over 1200 days, were investigated. Adsorption abilities decreased considerably after ca 1000 days and the activated carbons became like sand. The cumulative TOC removals by the adsorption effect were asymptotic to constant values for each empty bed contact time. Though the removal efficiencies for both the activated carbons were approximately equivalent, the pore volume decreases were not uniform. The volume of smaller pores under 2 nm in diameter mainly decreased. Accumulations of minerals such as aluminium and calcium were small, and the pore volume decreases were mainly caused by the accumulation of organic substances. Almost all of the organic substances that accumulated in the activated carbon could be extracted by sodium hydroxide solution. The mean density of the organic substances that accumulated in the activated carbon was estimated to be 0.91 g/ml. Since the pore volume decrease of the activated carbon was small compared with the removal amounts by the adsorption effect, a large amount of organic substances that had adsorbed once disappeared and the pore volume of the activated carbon was regenerated.