Competitive adsorption of PPCP and humic substances by carbon nanotube membranes: Effects of coagulation and PPCP properties

Abstract

Natural organic matter (NOM) and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCP) are known to compete for adsorption sites on carbon nanotubes (CNT), resulting in decreasing PPCP adsorption onto CNT. In this study, four types of PPCP, as such acetaminophen (AAP), caffeine (CAF), triclosan (TCS), and carbendazim (CBD) were used to investigate the effects of PPCP properties and NOM coagulation on the competitive adsorption of PPCP and NOM. Coagulation preferentially removed HS from a natural surface water, thereby increasing adsorption of AAP, CAF, TCS and CBD by 19%, 13%, 17% and 11%, respectively. Similar trends were obtained with synthetic natural waters, for which the adsorption of AAP, CAF, TCS, and CBD increased by 29%, 7%, 44% and 69%, respectively, as humic acid (HA) concentration decreased from 10mgL−1 to 0mgL−1. Furthermore, PPCP properties also affected their competition with NOM for adsorption by CNT membranes Because CAF existed in cationic form at pH ranging from 7 to 8.3, its adsorption was less affected by the presence/coagulation of NOM than AAP, CBD, and TCS. Based upon these findings, coagulation has the potential to be integrated with CNT adsorption for the removal of PPCP compounds during advanced drinking water treatment.