Powdered Activated Carbon Dose Research Articles

Odor removal by powdered activated carbon (PAC) in low turbidity drinking water

The potential of powdered activated carbon (PAC) adsorption for odor removal in low turbidity drinking water was investigated. The batch experiments were conducted under various conditions including PAC species, dosage, contact time and dosing point. The effects of pre-chlorination and PAC dosage on turbidity were also studied. Results showed that adsorption was quite vulnerable to initial threshold odor number (TON), and higher influent TON required a larger dosage. Both PAC species (derived from coal and wood) presented excellent adsorption capacity for odorants. The adsorption process versus time had three steps and the adsorption kinetics were well fitted by the second order model. Pre-chlorination had an adverse effect on both raw water TON and odor removal. PAC adsorption was enhanced by dosing during coagulation and could, in turn, save coagulant dosage.

Removal of Trace Pharmaceuticals from Water using coagulation and powdered activated carbon as pretreatment to ultrafiltration membrane system

In this study, the efficacy of water treatment technologies: ultra-filtration (UF), powdered activated carbon (PAC), coagulation (COA) and a combination of these technologies (PAC/UF and COA/UF) to remove target pharmaceuticals (Acetaminophen, Bezafibrate, Caffeine, Carbamazepine, Cotinine, Diclofenac, Gemfibrozil, Ibuprofen, Metoprolol, Naproxen, Sulfadimethoxine, Sulfamethazine, Sulfamethoxazole, Sulfathiazole, Triclosan and Trimethoprim) was investigated. Samples of wastewater from municipal WWTPs were analyzed using direct aqueous injection High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Tandem Quadrupole Mass Spectrometric (LC/MS/MS) detection. On concentration basis, results showed an average removal efficiency of 29%, 50%, and 7%, respectively, for the UF, PAC dosage of 50ppm, and COA dosage of 10ppm. When PAC dosage of 100ppm was used as pretreatment to the combined PAC and UF in-line membrane system, a 90.3% removal efficiency was achieved. The removal efficiency of UF in tandem with COA was 33%, an increase of 4% compared with the single UF treatment. The adsorption effect of PAC combined with the physical separation process of UF revealed the best treatment strategy for removing pharmaceutical contaminant from water.

Modeling of pollutant removal by powdered activated carbon in a raw water aqueduct

This study provides new parameters for the use of powdered activated carbon (PAC) in a raw water aqueduct under emergency response. Here, we developed a coupled model that dynamically predicts simultaneous PAC transport and pollutant removal in the water aqueduct. To calibrate the model, we have performed a Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) settling experiment to determine the dynamic settling velocity, PAC deposition experiments in a rotating flume to quantify the bottom shearing effects, and jar tests to determine the dynamic pollutant adsorption rate. The model was validated against a field chemical oxygen demand experiment in a water aqueduct in Shanghai (China) and a laboratory nitrobenzene flume test. Then, given a certain pollution concentration arising from an accidental pollution event, the model could be used to predict the optimal flow rate and PAC dosage for the establishment of mitigation measures.

Removal of emerging micropollutants from wastewater by activated carbon adsorption: Experimental study of different activated carbons and factors influencing the adsorption of micropollutants in wastewater

Activated carbon processes, initially designed for drinking water production, are tested for wastewater application in order to characterize their efficiency to remove micropollutants from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) discharges. In that purpose, a pilot was studied by the Paris sanitation service (SIAAP) and the water environment and urban systems laboratory (LEESU). The in-situ study raised several additional questions related to the structural and morphological properties of activated carbons, in order to select the proper material, the influence of operational parameters such as the activated carbon dose and the contact time, the role of organic matter concentration and composition, the presence of a residual concentration of methanol or the impact of ferric chloride addition. Thus, various complementary experiments were carried out at laboratory scale to improve the understanding of the micropollutants adsorption process on activated carbon, in particular on powdered activated carbon (PAC).The results have highlighted a strong link between the efficiency of PACs and their specific surface (BET), which can be easily estimated by their bulk density. The study of the sorption process has also confirmed the strong influence of the PAC dose and the rapidity of the sorption kinetic. From an operational point of view, the ferric chloride injection seems to slightly improve most of the detected compounds adsorption, probably thanks to the coagulation of the dissolved organic matter colloidal fraction. In contrary, the presence in the water of a residual concentration of methanol seems to have no impact on the micropollutant fate. The influence of the wastewater matrix is strong, with notably lower adsorption in water from primary settling compared to various WWTP discharges. However, the dissolved organic carbon concentration is not always sufficient to explain sorption competitions in wastewater, and the nature of the organic matter should be considered too. In particular, the carbon removal from biological treatments is the step that clearly modifies both the quantity and the composition of the organic matter. It has been observed that discharges from WWTPs operating with different biological processes (activated sludge, membrane bioreactor or biofiltration) have similar organic matter concentrations and compositions, and allows comparable removals of organic matter and micropollutants by adsorption. The lower performances on micropollutants observed in the settled water can be explained by the higher quantity of protein-like molecules (fluorophores Iδ and Iγ), which compose the most competitive organic matter fraction for adsorption on activated carbon, compared to the other waters.

Combined influence by humic acid (HA) and powdered activated carbon (PAC) particles on ultrafiltration membrane fouling

This research focused on the combined fouling by humic acid (HA) and powdered activated carbon (PAC) which possibly occurred in the PAC-ultrafiltration (PAC-UF) hybrid process. The membrane fouling and the HA transmission were systematically investigated with HA (Aldrich, 10mg/L) and PAC (with different sizes and dosages) in the presence and absence of 0.5mM calcium. Experimental results suggested that PAC and HA exhibited a significant synergistic fouling effect when they formed a fouling cake together. In the absence of calcium, the adsorption of HA on PAC surface increased the repulsive interaction between PAC particles, and thus a fragile cake layer was formed by the PAC–HA mixture. In the presence of calcium, however, a dense cake layer was formed due to particle bridging by HA–Ca–HA associations. The combined fouling effect increased as the PAC dosage increased and the PAC size decreased, both in the presence and absence of calcium, suggesting that the steric effect play an important role in the combined fouling. In the absence of calcium, an unexpected phenomenon that the HA transmission increased in the presence of PAC suggested that in addition to the steric effect, the hindered foulant back diffusion effect was also involved in the combined fouling.

Enhanced treatment of pretreated sour whey by PAC adsorption/membrane process

An advanced treatment system was developed using a three-step integrated process including physiochemical treatment, activated sludge (AS) based biodegradation and membrane/adsorption for treatment of sour whey within chemical oxygen demand (COD) range of 2700–14000mg/L. Coagulation process as the physicochemical pre-treatment, could remove only 30% of organic load, while the COD was reduced to 540–6700mg/L after AS process. The most important part of the advanced treatment system was application of a novel hybrid membrane/adsorption process as the final stage. In membrane/adsorption configuration, the nanostructure ultrafiltration membrane was modified by pre-coating of powdered activated carbon (PAC) onto its surface via pressure deposition technique in order to improve its COD removal efficiency as well as fouling resistance. The best result was obtained at PAC dosage of 30g/m2 which could remove more than 90% COD at the moderate load of COD (about 2300mg/L). Besides, the initial wastewater flux was about 127L/m2h at 3bar indicated the high resistance of the PAC-coated membrane against fouling by organic load. The COD of the treated effluent reached to the 130mg/L using the integrated process which makes wastewater disposable to the environment.

Removal of N-nitrosodimethylamine precursors with powdered activated carbon adsorption

The main objective of this study was to examine the roles of powdered activated carbon (PAC) characteristics (i.e., surface chemistry, pore size distribution, and surface area) in the removal of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) formation potential (FP) in surface and wastewater-impacted waters. Also, the effects of natural attenuation of NDMA precursors in surface waters, NDMA FP concentration, and carbon dose on the removal of NDMA FP by PAC were evaluated. Finally, the removal of NDMA FP by PAC at two full-scale DWTPs was monitored. Wastewater-impacted and surface water samples were collected to conduct adsorption experiments using different PACs and activated carbon fibers (ACFs) with a wide range of physicochemical characteristics. The removal efficiency of NDMA FP by PAC was significantly higher in wastewater-impacted than surface waters. Adsorbable NDMA precursors showed a size distribution in the waters tested; the adsorbable fraction included precursors accessing the pore size regions of 10–20 Å and <10 Å. Basic carbons showed higher removal of NDMA FP than acidic carbons on a surface area basis. The overall removal of NDMA FP by PAC on a mass basis depended on the surface area, pore size distribution and pHPZC. Thus, PACs with hybrid characteristics (micro and mesoporous), higher surface areas, and basic surface chemistry are more likely to be effective for NDMA precursor control by PAC adsorption. The application of PAC in DWTPs for taste and odor control resulted in an additional 20% removal of NDMA FP for the PAC doses of 7–10 mg/L. The natural attenuation of NDMA precursors through a combination of processes (biodegradation, photolysis and adsorption) decreased their adsorbability and removal by PAC adsorption.

Powder Activated Carbon Pretreatment of a Microfiltration Membrane for the Treatment of Surface Water.

This study focused on the effect of powder activated carbon (PAC) adsorption on microfiltration (MF) membrane performance. The results showed that PAC pretreatment offered high organic matter removal rates for both dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm (UV254) during 10–200 mg/L PAC dosage. The removal efficiencies of organic matter by MF membrane filtration decreased with the increase of organic matter removal rate by PAC adsorption. PAC mainly removed organic matter of about 3 kDa molecular weight (MW). MF membrane maintained more than 5 kDa MW organic matter on the membrane after PAC adsorption. The results of membrane filtration indicated that PAC pretreatment slightly promoted membrane flux, regardless of PAC dosage. It seems that the organic matter fouling membrane was concentrated in more than 3 kDa MW. PAC removed markedly less than 3 kDa MW organic matter and had less effect on more than 3 kDa organic matter. Thus, PAC cannot reduce membrane fouling.

Integrating organic micropollutant removal into tertiary filtration: Combining PAC adsorption with advanced phosphorus removal

Direct addition of powdered activated carbon (PAC) to a deep-bed filter was investigated at pilot-scale as a single advanced treatment stage for simultaneous removal of organic micropollutants (OMPs) and phosphorus from secondary effluent. PAC doses of 10–50 mg/L were assessed with regard to their impacts on filter performance and removal of 15 selected OMPs over a period of 18 months. The PAC was effectively retained by the filter and had no negative effect on filter head loss. Filter runtime until particle breakthrough depended mainly on coagulant dose and did not decrease significantly due to the additional PAC load. Removal of suspended solids and phosphorus by coagulation was effective independent of the PAC dose. A PAC dose of 35 mg/L PAC was suitable to remove well-adsorbing OMPs (e.g. carbamazepine, diclofenac) by >80% and medium adsorbing OMPs (e.g. primidone, sulfamethoxazole) by 50–80%. Median removals were 50–80% for well-adsorbing and 30–50% for medium adsorbing OMPs with 20 mg/L PAC. Abatement of all OMPs was low (<50%) with 10 mg/L PAC, possibly because of the high effluent organic matter content (median dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations of 11.2 mg/L). In addition to adsorptive removal, relevant concentration decreases of certain OMPs (e.g. 4-formylaminoantipyrine) were attributed to biological transformation in the filter. Adsorption onto accumulating PAC in the top layer of the filter bed led to improved OMP adsorption with increasing filter runtime. The comparison of OMP removal in the pilot filter with laboratory adsorption tests demonstrates that batch test results can be applied to estimate adsorptive OMP removal in real applications.

Using powdered activated carbon to enhance atrazine removal in an anoxic/oxic (A/O) process

Laboratory-scale experiments based on an anoxic/oxic (A/O) wastewater treatment process were conducted to investigate the effects of an spill of the emergent atrazine pollutant on the operation of wastewater treatment plant, as well as the feasibility of using powdered activated carbon (PAC) to improve the performance of the treatment system after the accident. Atrazine was added with a concentration varying from 2.5 to 20 mg/L at different experimental stages. The results showed that the performance of the A/O system, in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) removal, was negatively affected by the presence of atrazine. However, the system could recover a more than 80% of COD and 70% of NH4+-N removal within 6 d under an atrazine concentration of less than 10 mg/L. A 20 mg/L atrazine concentration showed irreversible effects on the treatment performance. PAC addition was found to be able to greatly improve the performance of the system at the atrazine concentration of 20 mg/L, as indicated by the oxygen uptake rate of microorganisms. The activity of the bacteria was proportional to the PAC dosage under experimental conditions, and a 300 mg/L of PAC dose was recommended.

How to dose powdered activated carbon in deep bed filtration for efficient micropollutant removal

Direct addition of powdered activated carbon (PAC) to the inlet of a deep bed filter represents an energy- and space-saving option to remove organic micropollutants (OMPs) during advanced wastewater treatment or drinking water purification. In this lab-scale study, continuous dosing, preconditioning a filter with PAC and combinations thereof were investigated as possible dosing modes with respect to OMP adsorption efficiency. Continuous dosing resulted in decreasing effluent concentrations with increasing filter runtime due to adsorption onto accumulating PAC in the filter bed. Approximately constant removal levels were achieved at longer filter runtimes, which were mainly determined by the dose of fresh PAC, rather than the total PAC amount embedded. The highest effluent concentrations were observed during the initial filtration stage. Meanwhile, preconditioning led to complete OMP adsorption at the beginning of filtration and subsequent gradual OMP breakthrough. PAC distribution in the pumice filter was determined by the loss on ignition of PAC and pumice and was shown to be relevant for adsorption efficiency. Preconditioning with turbulent upflow led to a homogenous PAC distribution and improved OMP adsorption significantly. Combining partial preconditioning and continuous dosing led to low initial effluent concentrations, but ultimately achieved concentrations similar to filter runs without preconditioning. Furthermore, a dosing stop prior to the end of filtration was suitable to increase PAC efficiency without affecting overall OMP removals.

Powdered activated carbon adsorption of two fishy odorants in water: Trans,trans-2,4-heptadienal and trans,trans-2,4-decadienal

Powdered activated carbon (PAC) adsorption of two fishy odorants, trans,trans-2,4-heptadienal (HDE) and trans,trans-2,4-decadienal (DDE), was investigated. Both the pseudo first-order and the pseudo second-order kinetic models well described the kinetics curves, and DDE was more readily removed by PAC. In isotherm tests, both Freundlich and Modified Freundlich isotherms fitted the experimental data well. PAC exhibited a higher adsorption capacity for DDE than for HDE, which could be ascribed to the difference in their hydrophobicity. The calculated thermodynamic parameters (ΔG0, ΔH0, and ΔS0) indicated an exothermic and spontaneous adsorption process. PAC dosage, pH, and natural organic matter (NOM) presence were found to influence the adsorption process. With increasing PAC dosage, the pseudo first-order and pseudo second-order rate constants both increased. The value of pH had little influence on HDE or DDE molecules but altered the surface charge of PAC, and the maximum adsorption capacity occurred at pH9. The presence of NOM, especially the fraction with molecular weight less than 1k Dalton, hindered the adsorption. The study showed that preloaded NOM impaired the adsorption capacity of HDE or DDE more severely than simultaneously fed NOM did.

Impacts of coagulation on the adsorption of organic micropollutants onto powdered activated carbon in treated domestic wastewater

The application of powdered activated carbon (PAC) as an advanced wastewater treatment step for the removal of organic micropollutants (OMP) necessitates complete separation of the PAC particles, e.g. by coagulation. In this study, potential positive or negative indirect or direct effects of coagulation on the adsorption of OMPs onto PAC in treated wastewater were investigated. Although the concentration of dissolved organic matter (DOM) was significantly reduced by coagulation, the selective removal of mainly larger DOM components such as biopolymers and humic substances did not improve subsequent OMP adsorption onto PAC, demonstrating that coagulation has minor effects on DOM constituents that are relevant for direct competition or pore blocking. The combination of coagulation and adsorption yielded the sum of the individual removals, as adsorption predominantly affected smaller compounds. While the formation of flocs led to visible incorporation of PAC particles, no significant mass transfer limitations impeded the OMP adsorption. As a result, the dosing sequence of coagulant and PAC is not critical for efficient adsorption of OMPs onto PAC. The relationships between adsorptive OMP removal and corresponding reduction of UV absorption at 254nm (UVA254) as a promising surrogate correlation for the real-time monitoring and PAC adjustment were affected by coagulation, leading to individual correlations depending on the water composition. Correcting for UVA254 reduction by coagulation produces adsorptive UVA254 removal, which correlates highly with OMP removal for different WWTP effluents and varying coagulant doses and can be applied in combined adsorption/coagulation processes to predict OMP removal and control PAC dosing.

Study of a large scale powdered activated carbon pilot: Removals of a wide range of emerging and priority micropollutants from wastewater treatment plant effluents

The efficacy of a fluidized powdered activated carbon (PAC) pilot (CarboPlus®) was studied in both nominal (total nitrification + post denitrification) and degraded (partial nitrification + no denitrification) configuration of the Seine Centre WWTP (Colombes, France). In addition to conventional wastewater parameters 54 pharmaceuticals and hormones (PhPHs) and 59 other emerging pollutants were monitored in influents and effluents of the pilot. Thus, the impacts of the WWTP configuration, the process operation and the physico-chemical properties of the studied compounds were assessed in this article.Among the 26 PhPHs quantified in nominal WWTP configuration influents, 8 have high dissolved concentrations (>100 ng/L), 11 have an intermediary concentration (10–100 ng/L) and 7 are quantified below 10 ng/L. Sulfamethoxazole is predominant (about 30% of the sum of the PhPHs). Overall, 6 PhPHs are poorly to moderately removed (<60%), such as ibuprofen, paracetamol or estrone, while 9 are very well removed (>80%), i.e. beta blockers, carbamazepine or trimethoprim, and 11 are well eliminated (60–80%), i.e. diclofenac, naproxen or sulfamethoxazole.In degraded WWTP configuration, higher levels of organic matter and higher concentrations of most pollutants are observed. Consequently, most PhPHs are substantially less removed in percentages but the removed flux is higher. Thus, the PAC dose required to achieve a given removal percentage is higher in degraded WWTP configuration. For the other micropollutants (34 quantified), artificial sweeteners and phthalates are found at particularly high concentrations in degraded WWTP configuration influents, up to μg/L range. Only pesticides, bisphenol A and parabens are largely eliminated (50–95%), while perfluorinated acids, PAHs, triclosan and sweeteners are not or weakly removed (<50%). The remaining compounds exhibit a very variable fate from campaign to campaign.The fresh PAC dose was identified as the most influencing operation parameter and is strongly correlated to performances. Charge and hydrophobicity of compounds have been recognized as crucial for the micropollutant adsorption on PAC, as well as the molecular weight. Finally, a PAC dose of 10 mg/L allows an average removal of 72–80% of the sum of the PhPHs in nominal WWTP configuration. The comparaison of the results with those from the scarce other studies tends to indicate that an extrapolation of them to different PAC processes and to other WWTPs could be possible and relevant, taking into account the differences of water quality from WWTP to WWTP.

Removal of micropollutants from treated domestic wastewater by addition of powdered activated carbon to rapid filtration

Advanced treatment of wastewater is currently being discussed throughout Europe in an effort to reduce emissions to surface waters and protect drinking water resources. In this study the combination of adsorption onto powdered activated carbon (PAC) and coagulation/filtration was investigated as a single advanced treatment step for simultaneous removal of organic micropollutants (OMPs) and phosphorus from domestic secondary effluent. Two pilot-scale dual-media filters were operated in parallel for a period of 4 months to investigate the influence of PAC addition on filtration parameters and determine removal of 14 selected OMPs. OMP abatement in the PAC filter was compared to batch tests and correlated with relative removal of UV254 absorption (UVA254). Stable operation with an average PAC dose of 8 mg/L and a removal &amp;gt;90% of total suspended solids was possible for filtration cycles of 24 h. The results show that PAC dosing does not negatively affect either filtration resistance or removal of phosphorus by precipitation. Concentrations of benzotriazole and carbamazepine were reduced by &amp;gt;70%, while sulfamethoxazole and diclofenac were removed to the extent of 40–60% (median values). Relative OMP removal showed only minor fluctuations despite occasionally strong changes of influent concentrations. Moreover, the results indicate that contact times were not sufficient for complete PAC exhaustion before separation and that further adsorption onto embedded PAC in the filter significantly contributes to overall OMP removal.

Reverse osmosis concentrate treatment by a PAC countercurrent four-stage adsorption/MF hybrid process

In this study, in order to reduce the impact of reverse osmosis concentrate (ROC) on the receiving body of water and/or improve the recovery rate of reverse osmosis (RO) system by reusing the treated ROC as a feeding, a powdered activated carbon (PAC) countercurrent four-stage adsorption/MF hybrid process was developed for organic removal from ROC. The process could achieve good organic removal at lower PAC consumption. For dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal efficiency of 70.0%, the PAC dose was 21.6% less than that in countercurrent two-stage adsorption and 50.9% less than that in single-stage adsorption. The calculation method for correlating removal efficiency and PAC dose was deduced and validated. The validation result showed that the relative error between the average experimental DOC removal efficiency and the calculated one was less than 5% throughout the experiment, exhibiting good accuracy for the calculation method. Compared with countercurrent two-stage adsorption, the membrane fouling in the new process could be mitigated to a certain extent. The total number of sub-cycles in a cycle (n) influenced the hydraulic retention time (HRT) and the total volume of the reactors. Results showed that the HRT increased as n increased.

Emergency Response Technology Using Powdered Activated Carbon for Sudden Water Pollution Accidents with Petroleum Pollutants

Emergency disposal combined technology of sorbent cotton intercept and powdered activated carbon (PAC) adsorption was researched. The removal effects of petroleum pollutants individually treated by sorbent cotton were analyzed. The influencing factors of PAC adsorption to deal with petroleum pollutants, including PAC dosage, oscillation frequency and oscillation time, were investigated. The results showed that removal efficiency increased with increasing PAC dosage. When PAC dosage reached 50mg/L, the remaining concentration of petroleum pollutants met the standards. And after oscillated for 120min, the total removal efficiency increased to more than 99%.

Quick Response to 2‐MIB Episodes Based on Native Population Odor Sensitivity Evaluation

Taste and odor have been a recurring problem for many water utilities. This paper established an optimized strategy to cope with 2‐methylisoborneol (2‐MIB) by combining the determination of the control goal according to native population sensitivity and the prediction of the optimum powdered activated carbon (PAC) dose using the homogeneous surface diffusion model (HSDM). The results showed that the population in Beijing was very sensitive to 2‐MIB. Based on flavor profile analysis result conducted by a local panel, the odor threshold concentration (OTC) for Beijing population was determined to be 7.1 ng/L. This value was further certified by the significant odor complaint evaluation using a logit model and set as the control goal for the water treatment plant. According to the OTC level, a 2‐MIB removal prediction curve was then constructed for estimating the optimum PAC dose based on the HSDM. This study can provide a practical technical solution for the control of seasonable odor problems in waterworks.

Investigation of pre-coagulation and powder activate carbon adsorption on ultrafiltration membrane fouling

Pre-coagulation by alum before ultrafiltration without (CUF) and with (CAUF) powdered activated carbon (PAC) addition was investigated to explore the influence of PAC on membrane fouling. It was found that the continuous addition of a low dosage of PAC reduced membrane fouling for operational run periods <20 days, both for reversible and for irreversible components of fouling. The presence of PAC increased the removal of dissolved organic matter (DOM), particularly proteinaceous substances, and some fractions of humic-type substances. For a longer operation time (>20 days) an increase in mainly reversible fouling was evident and was attributed to microorganism growth in the cake layer, as indicated by the enhanced concentrations of extracellular polymeric substances, such as polysaccharides and proteins. A process of crystallization of the coagulant floc in the cake layer with increasing operation time was believed to cause desorption of DOM from primary coagulation particles and a decrease in their size, and consequently a higher density of cake layer. PAC absorption of desorbed DOM within the cake layer, and residual DOM after coagulation, reduced DOM reaching the membrane surface and the extent of subsequent internal membrane fouling.

Integrating Micro-Pollutant Removal by Powdered Activated Carbon into Deep Bed Filtration

Adsorption onto powdered activated carbon (PAC) is a promising option to remove organic micro-pollutants (OMP) from drinking water sources or wastewater. Since this treatment option requires continuous PAC dosing, sufficient contact time and subsequent separation of the PAC, the integration into existing process chains is challenging. In the present investigation, the pre-loading of a deep bed filter with PAC used as fixed bed adsorber was investigated. The retention and distribution of an exemplary PAC in a pumice rapid filter were determined. Gravimetry combined with combustion of the PAC at 550 °C was applied to differentiate between PAC and filter material residues and revealed comparably high PAC immobilization in the upper third of the pumice filter. Comparative adsorption experiments in batch with suspended PAC and continuous filtration tests with immobilized PAC showed advantageous results for immobilized PAC with regard to the removal of OMP and the sum parameters dissolved organic carbon and UV light absorption at 254 nm wavelength. The results indicate that a conventional rapid filter together with PAC can be effectively utilized as fixed bed adsorption filter.