A Study on the Removal of Taste and Odor Compounds by Activated Carbon Adsorption

활성탄(活性炭) 흡착(吸着)에 의한 취기유발물질(臭氣誘發物質) 제거(除去)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究) -GEOSMIN, 2-MIB를 중심으로-

The occurrence of objectionable tastes and odors in drinking water is a common and widespread problem. The most troublesome odors are usually those described as muddy or earthy-musty. Two organic compounds which have been implicated as the cause of earthy-musty odor problems in water are geosmin and 2-Methylisoborneol. These earthy-musty organics have been shown to be metabolites of actinomycetes and blue green algae. The purpose of this paper is to describe adsorbability in removing these two oder causing compounds(geosmin and 2-MIB) upon various conditions like pH variation, adding humic acid and different activated carbon. The conclusion of this study are as followings. In batch test, carbon dosage is 10mg/100ml for geosmin and 15mg/100ml for 2-MIB. Both were in equilibrium state after 60 hours. In model simulation, F-P model described experiment data and modelling data appropriately in geosmin but F-S model not. In case of 2-MIB, models didn't describe relation between experiment and modelling data well. Two causative agents of earthy-musty odor compounds, geosmin and 2-MIB, are strongly adsorbed by activated carbon either coconut or brown. There appears to be no effect of pH (3,7,9) on adsorption of these two organics. Activated carbon proved to be more effective for removing geosmin than for removing 2-MIB. When activated carbon is. used in removing these two organics, the removal of these appeared to be adversely affected by back ground organic compounds, such as humic substances, due to competitive adsorption.