Conceptual comparison of pink water treatment technologies: granular activated carbon, anaerobic fluidized bed, and zero-valent iron-Fenton process

Abstract

Pink water, explosive-laden wastewater produced in army ammunition plants is often treated using expensive and non-destructive granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption. This paper compares GAC adsorption and two alternative treatment technologies, anaerobic GAC fluidized bed reactor and zero-valent iron-Fenton process. The bench-scale demonstration of the zero-valent iron-Fenton process with real pink water is reported. The features of three technologies are compared and their advantages and drawbacks are discussed.