• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.817-824
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• 2002

Granular activated carbon(GAC) is highly effective in removing organic compounds which are resistant to biological disintegration in wastewater treatment. However, GAC has reached its full adsorptive capacity, GAC needs to be regenerated before it can be used for a further adsorption cycle. Countercurrent oxidative reaction (COR) technique has been developed and evaluated for the regeneration of spent GAC. Various parameters such as flame temperature, the loss of carbon, destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) of organic compounds, surface area, surface structure, adsorptive capacity, etc. were examined to determine the performance of COR. The results of these tests showed that adosorptive capacity of regenerated GAC was completely recovered, the loss of carbon was controllable, flame temperature was high enough to insure complete destruction and removal $(\geq99.9999%)$ of specific organics of interest, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), that are thermally stable, and on formation of toxic byproducts such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) or polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) were detected during the regeneration process. The COR technique is environmentally benign, easy to use and less copital intensive than other available regeneration technologies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.199-208
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• 2024

In this paper, the adsorption removal characteristic for 10 species of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) was investigated using GAC and modified GAC (GAC-Cu). After modification with Cu(II), the amount of copper was to 1.93 and 4.73 mg/g for GAC and GAC-Cu, respectively. The total amount of 10 species of PFAS per specific area was obtained to 0.548 and 0.612 ng/m² for GAC and GAC-Cu, respectively. A series of batch test confirmed lower efficiency was observed with a smaller number of carbon chain length and the removal efficiency of PFCA (perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids) was lower than that of PFSA (perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids) with the same carbon chain length. Regarding the pH effect, the adsorption capacity was decreased with increase of pH due to the increase of electrostatic repulsion. According to pseudo first and second order (PFO and PSO) kinetic models, while the values of equilibrium uptake and time did not show significant difference, a difference in uptake was observed between 24-48h. Furthermore, based on correlation analysis, Log K_ow and uptake have a high correlation with molecular weight (M.W.) and initial concentration, respectively. These results show that long-chain PFAS have higher removal efficiency due to their increased hydrophobicity.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.177-188
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• 2010

The use of an activated carbon (AC) system alone has the limitation that the pollutants are not eliminated but only transferred to another phase with the consumed AC becoming hazardous waste itself. Therefore, the present study investigated the feasibility of using a combined system of granular AC (GAC) with S-doped visible-light-induced $TiO_2$ (GAC/S-doped $TiO_2$) to clean monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (MAHs) with concentrations at $\leq$ 3 mg $m^{-3}$, using a continuous air-flow reactor. This study conducted three different experiments: an adsorption test of pure GAC and GAC/S-doped $TiO_2$; a long-term adsorptional photocatalytic (AP) activity test of GAC/S-doped $TiO_2$; and an AP activity test of GAC/S-doped $TiO_2$ under different conditions. For the AP activity test, three parameters were evaluated: various weights of GAC/S-doped $TiO_2$ (0.9, 4.4, and 8.9 g); various flow rates (FRs) (0.5, 1 and 2 L $min^{-1}$); and various input concentrations (ICs) of the target MAHs (0.1, 1, 2 and 3 mg $m^{-3}$). The adsorption efficiencies were similar for the pure GAC and GAC/S-doped $TiO_2$ reactors, suggesting that S-doped $TiO_2$ particles on GAC surfaces do not significantly interfere with the adsorption capacity of GAC. Benzene exhibited a clear AP activity, whereas no other target MAHs did. In most cases, the AP efficiencies for the target MAHs did not significantly vary with an increase in weight, thereby suggesting that, under the weight range tested in this study, the weights or FRs are not important parameters for AP efficiency. However, ICs did influence the AP efficiencies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2008

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the variation of the molecular size distribution by granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption. GAC adsorption was assessed by using the rapid small-scale column test (RSSCT) and high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) was used to analyze the molecular size distribution (MSD) in the effluent of GAC column. RSSCT study suggested that GAC adsorption exhibited excellent interrelationship between dissolved organic carbon (DOC) breakthrough and MSD as function of bed volumes passed. After GAC treatment, the nonadsorbable fraction which was about 25percents of influent DOC corresponded to the hydrophilic (HPI) natural organic carbon (NOM) of NOM fractions and was composed entirely of <300 molecular weight (MW) in the HPSEC at the initial stage of the RSSCT operation. The dominant MW fraction in the source water was 1,000~5,000daltons. At the bed volumes 2,500, MW <500 of GAC treated water was risen rather than it of source water. After the bed volumes 7,300 of operation, the MW 1,000~3,000 fraction was closed to about 80percents of DOC found in the GAC influent. The Number-average molecular weight (Mn) value determined using HPSEC for the effluent of GAC column was gently increased as DOC breakthrough progress. The quotient p(Mw/Mn) can be used to estimate the degree of polydispersity was shown greatest value for the GAC effluent at the initial stage of the RSSCT operation.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.104-108
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• 2013

The adsorption characteristics of Cd(II) and Pb(II) in aqueous solution using granular activated carbon (GAC), activated carbon fiber (ACF), modified ACF (NaACF), and a mixture of GAC and NaACF (GAC/NaACF) have been studied. The surface properties, such as morphology, surface functional groups, and composition of various adsorbents were determined using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements. The specific surface area, total pore volume, and pore size distribution were investigated using nitrogen adsorption, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) methods. In this study, NaACF showed a high adsorption capacity and rate for heavy metal ions due to the improvement of its ion-exchange capabilities by additional oxygen functional groups. Moreover, the GAC and NaACF mixture was used as an adsorbent to determine the adsorbent-adsorbate interaction in the presence of two competitive adsorbents.

• 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.

• 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.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.206-212
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• 2013

This study accessed the adsorption characteristics of the 11 perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) on coal-based granular activated carbon (GAC). The breakthrough appeared first for PFODA and sequentially for PFHDA, PFTeDA, PFTDA, PFDoDA, PFUnDA, PFDA, PFNA, PFOA, PFOS, and PFHpA. The maximum adsorption capacity (X/M) for the 11 PFCs with apparent breakthrough points ranged from 2.43 ${\mu}g/g$ (for PFODA) to 64.5 ${\mu}g/g$ (for PFHpA). Carbon usage rate (CUR) for PFODA was 0.291 g/day, 11.2 times higher than that for PFHpA (0.026 g/day). The X/M values for the 11 PFCs were fitted well with a linear regression ($r^2$ = 0.89) by their molecular weight (chain length).

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.33-42
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• 1998

The optimum design and preliminary cost estimations of air stripping towers ASTs with granular activated carbon adsorption (GAC) systems as the off-gas treatment were done and compared to liquid-phase GAC system. The optimum design and preliminary cost estimations were done for either single or multicomponent systems. A computer program was developed for this study. 15 single compounds and their multicomponent systems were studies. Even with off-gas treatment, AST was generally a less expensive process for treatment of volatile organics than liquid-phase GAC system. Treatment costs of small systems were sensitive to system capacity. Accumulative effect of treatment costs was found in multicomponent systems. The cost of a multicomponent system was highly dependent on the least strippable component in ASTs even with gas-phase GAC or the least adsorbable component in liquid-phase GAC system.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.77-85
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• 2012

The present study investigates treatment methods for removal of arsenic from wastewater. The granular activated carbon (GAC) with the coating of iron chloride ($FeCl_3$) was used for the treatment of a low concentration of arsenic from wastewater. Batch experiments were performed to investigate the synthesis of Fe-GAC (Iron coated granular activated carbon), effects of pH, adsorption kinetics and the Langmuir model. The synthesized Fe-GAC with 0.1 M $FeCl_3$ shows best removal efficiency. Adsorption studies were carried out in the optimum pH range of 4-6 for arsenic removal. The Fe-GAC showed promising results by removing 99.4% of arsenic. In the adsorption isotherm studies, the observed data fitted well with the Langmuir models. In continuous column study showed that As(V) could be removed to below 0.25 mg/L within 1,020 pore volume. Our results suggest that the surface modified granular activated carbon treated with $FeCl_3$ for effective removal of arsenic from wastewater.