• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.723-731
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• 2000

In recent years, the amount and number of synthetic organic compounds(SOCs) discharged from various industries has been increasing. Granular activated carbon(GAC) adsorption is one of the best available technology to remove SOCs from water supplies and wastewater. In this paper competitive adsorption for binary mixture of 4-nitrophenol and phenol on reverse stratified tapered adsorber(RSTA) using GAC was studied. Two isotherm experiments were conducted, one for phenol and the other for 4-nitrophenol. The phenol data of binary mixture isotherm were not fitted to Freundlich isotherm. The competitive adsorption increased significantly with decreasing carbon dose and increasing adsorbate concentration. The RSTA was found to provide an increase in breakthrough time when decreasing flow rate, increasing angle and injection layers. The performance enhancement provided by RSTA can be exploited in separation and in the purification of fluids.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.95-104
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• 1997

The objectives of this study are to investigate the effect of media on the removal efficiency of nitrate-nitrogen and the biofilm thickness in the fluidized bed biofilm reactor(FBBR) used for the high rate denitrification of nitric acid wastewater. Granular activated carbon(GAC) of 1.274 mm diameter and sand of 0.455 mm diameter were used as the media in the FBBR of 0.05 m diameter and 1.5 m height. As the nitrate-nitrogen concentration of the influent was increased stepwise from 600 to 4800 mg/l, the nitrate- and nitrite-nitrogen concentration of the effluent, biofilm thickness and biofilm dry density were measured to study the effects of media on the denitrification efficiency. The biofilm thickness increased with the substrate loading rate, and the biofilm dry density decreased with the increase of the biofilm thickness. At the influent nitrate-nitrogen concentration of 2400 mg/l, the removal efficiency in the FBBR with GAC was 88%, while that in the FBBR with sand was 99.6%. The biofilm in the FBBR with GAC was so thick, 754.9 $\mu$m, as to increase the mass transfer resistance, compared to that, 143.7 $\mu$m, in the FBBR with sand. The maximum specific denitrification rate in the FBBR with GAC was 15.0 kg-N/m$^3\cdot$ day, while that in the FBBR with sand was 18.0 kg-N/m$^3\cdot$ day. The biomass concentration in the FBBR with sand exhibited the high value 37 kg/m$^3$.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.191-197
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• 2008

In this study, we used hybrid module that was composed of packing granular activated carbon (GAC) between module inside and outside of ceramic microfiltration membrane for advanced drinking water treatment. Instead of natural organic matters (NOM) and fine inorganic particles in natural water source, synthetic water was prepared with humic acid and kaolin. Packing fraction of GAC was changed from 0 to 24.05% to see effect of packing fraction. As a result, changing curves of resistance of membrane fouling ($R_f$) and permeate flux (J) during 3 h operation were almost overlapped independent of packing fraction of GAC. Treatment efficiencies of turbidity were very high above 99.46% at all packing fractions of GAC. And treatment efficiency of NOM, which was measured by $UV_{254}$ absorbance, was the highest value of 99.43% at packing fraction of 24.05%. Then, we operated the hybrid process during 13 h at packing fraction of 24.05%. As a result, J was rapidly dropped according to increase of membrane fouling within initial 1 h of operation, and almost constant after 3 h. And treatment efficiencies of turbidity and NOM were stable and high values of 99.52% and 96.63%, respectively.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.20-26
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• 1995

The objective of this study is to estimate the effect of the bed expansion and the characteristics of attached biomass in the start-up in the anaerobic fluidized bed reactor(AFBR). The fluidized bed reactor was operated with bacteria supported on the bed of granular activated carbon(GAC). The reactor was operated at 35$\circ$C, 5 kg $COD/m^3\cdot day$ at bed expansion varying from 0 to 100% with soluble glucose wastewater(5,000 mg/l). When the effluent reached a steady state at 100% of bed expansion, maximum COD removal efficiency of 87.3% and 0.031 $m^3CH_4/kg COD_{removed}$ were obtained. At higher bed expansion, COD removal efficiency, methane production rate and biogas production rate increased. Especially, at 50% of bed expansion, the efficiency of the treatment increasedg rapidly in the AFBR. The biomass colonized in the pits and crevices of the GAC particle and no complete biofilm was established in the bioreactor during the experiment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.686-689
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• 2005

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of ammonium and nitrate nitrogen removal to applied voltage, electrolytic time and activated carbon packing height. Batch bipolar packed bed electrolytic cell reactor was packed with $4{\times}8$ mesh granular activated carbon (GAC). Afterward electrolysis was performed in 20 V for 30 min. As a result, as the filling height adjusted to 80 mm high, the removal efficiency of ammonium nitrogen was 99.9%. and as the electrolytic time varied to 60 min, the removal efficiency of ammonium nitrogen was 97.6%. and in case of continuous electrolytic treatment of ammonium and nitrate nitrogen removal efficiency of total nitrogen was over 80% in bipolar packed bed electrolytic cell reactor for 72 hours as the packing height, sample concentration and input rate of sample adjusted to 280 mm, 30 mg/L, 6.7 mL/min, respectively.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.96-102
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• 2018

In this study, adsorption characteristics of coconut shell-based granular activated carbon (CS-GAC) on Basic Blue 3 (BB3) were evaluated. As the dosage of CS-GAC increased, the removal efficiency of BB3 tended to increase and the initial dye concentration of 50 mg/L was completely removed at 0.2 g dosage. Adsorption equilibrium achieved within 270 and 420 min at the initial concentrations of 25 and 50 mg/L, respectively, and the experimental data were represented by the pseudo-second-order model. The maximum uptakes ($q_{max}$) predicted by the Langmuir model were 34.45, 46.63 and 53.10 mg/g at 298, 308 and 318 K, respectively. The $q_{max}$ value increased as the temperature increased. Also, the Gibbs free energy (${\Delta}G$) was changed to -7.37, -8.19 and -10.40 kJ/mol with increasing temperature. The enthalpy change (${\Delta}H$) and the entropy change (${\Delta}S$) were 34.47 kJ/mol and 0.15 J/mol K, respectively. Therefore adsorption of BB3 by CS-GAC was spontaneous and endothermic.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.589-601
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• 2010

Recently it has been frequently reported arsenic contamination of geologic origin in groundwater. The iron-impregnated ranular activated carbon (Fe-GAC) was developed for effective removal of arsenic from groundwater n the study. Fe-GACs were prepared by impregnating iron compounds into a supporting medium (GAC) with 0.05 M iron nitrate solution. The materials were used in arsenic adsorption isotherm tests to know the effect of iron impregnation time, batch kinetic tests to understand the influence of pH, and column tests to evaluate for the preliminary operation of water treatment system. The results showed that the minimum twelve hours of impregnation time were required for making the Fe-GAC with sufficient iron content for arsenic removal, confirmed by a high arsenic adsorption capacity evaluated in the isotherm tests. Most of the impregnated iron compounds were iron hydroxynitrate $Fe_4(OH)_{11}NO_3{\cdot}2H_2O$ but a mall quantity of hematite was also identified in X-ray diffraction(XRD) analysis. The batch isotherms of Fe-GAC for arsenic adsorption were well explained by Langmuir than Freundlich model and the iron contents of Fe-GAC have positive linear correlations on logarithmic plots with Freundlich distribution coefficients ($K_F$ and Langmuir maximum adsorption capacities ($Q_m$. The results of kinetic experiments suggested hat Fe-GAC had he excellent arsenic adsorption capacities regardless of all pH conditions except for pH 11 and could be used a promising adsorbents for groundwater arsenic removal considering the general groundwater pH range of 6-8. The pseudo-second order model, based on the assumption that the ate-limiting step might be chemisorption, provided the best correlation of the kinetic experimental data and explained the arsenic adsorption system f Fe-GAC. The column test was conducted to valuate the feasibility of Fe-GAC use and the operation parameters in arsenic groundwater treatment system. The parameters obtained from the column test were the retardation actor of 482.4 and the distribution coefficient of 581.1 L/mg which were similar values of 511.5-592.5 L/mg acquired from Freundlich batch isotherm model. The results of this study suggested that Fe-GAC could be used as promising adsorbent of arsenic removal in a small groundwater supply system with water treatment facility.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.73-79
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• 1983

Activated carbon has been widely used in water and wastewater treatment for removal of trace organics. The objective of this study was to define adsorption characteristics of trihalomethane(THM) on granular activated carbon(GAC) surfaces by laboratory experiments. Synthetic samples were prepared by adding chloroform into distilled and deionized water. The experiments conducted were a batch run and isotherm studies with five different temperature-pH levels. Adsorption of THM on GAC at an equilibrium condition was well described by the Freundlich isotherm equation. Lower temperature favored the adsorption, but the effect of pH was negligible. Utilizing the results of a batch run and the isotherm results, three parameters, mass transfer coefficient, pore diffusion coefficient, and surface diffusion coefficient, were evaluated by comparing with simulation results of an adsorption model. The results also showed that the pore diffusion was much greater than the surface diffusion.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.59-79
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• 2022

Conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) do not fully remove micropollutants. Enhanced treatment of sewage effluents is being considered or implemented in some countries to minimize the discharge of problematic micropollutants from WWTPs. Representative enhanced sewage treatment technologies for micropollutant removal were reviewed, including their current status of research and development. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) such as ozonation and UV/H₂O₂ and adsorption processes using powdered (PAC) and granular activated carbon (GAC) were mainly discussed with focusing on process principles for the micropollutant removal, effect of process operation and water matrix factors, and technical and economic feasibility. Pilot- and full-scale studies have shown that ozonation, PAC, and GAC can achieve significant elimination of various micropollutants at economically feasible costs(0.16-0.29 €/m³). Considering the current status of domestic WWTPs, ozonation and PAC were found to be the most feasible options for the enhanced sewage effluent treatment. Although ozonation and PAC are all mature technologies, a range of technical aspects should be considered for their successful application, such as energy consumption, CO₂ emission, byproduct or waste generation, and ease of system construction/operation/maintenance. More feasibility studies considering domestic wastewater characteristics and WWTP conditions are required to apply ozonation or PAC/GAC adsorption process to enhance sewage effluent treatment in Korea.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.182-189
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• 2021

The adsorption of disperse yellow 3 (DY 3) on granular activated carbon (GAC) was investigated for isothermal adsorption and kinetic and thermodynamic parameters by experimenting with initial concentration, contact time, temperature, and pH of the dye as adsorption parameters. In the pH change experiment, the adsorption percent of DY 3 on activated carbon was highest in the acidic region, pH 3 due to electrostatic attraction between the surface of the activated carbon with positive charge and the anion (OH^-) of DY 3. The adsorption equilibrium data of DY 3 fit the Langmuir isothermal adsorption equation best, and it was found that activated carbon can effectively remove DY 3 from the calculated separation factor (R_L). The heat of adsorption-related constant (B) from the Temkin equation did not exceed 20 J mol^-1, indicating that it is a physical adsorption process. The pseudo second order kinetic model fits well within 10.72% of the error percent in the kinetic experiments. The plots for Weber and Morris intraparticle diffusion model were divided into two straight lines. The intraparticle diffusion rate was slow because the slope of the stage 2 (intraparticle diffusion) was smaller than that of stage 1 (boundary layer diffusion). Therefore, it was confirmed that the intraparticle diffusion was rate controlling step. The free energy change of the DY 3 adsorption by activated carbon showed negative values at 298 ~ 318 K. As the temperature increased, the spontaneity increased. The enthalpy change of the adsorption reaction of DY 3 by activated carbon was 0.65 kJ mol^-1, which was an endothermic reaction, and the entropy change was 2.14 J mol^-1 K^-1.