PREDICTING A BREAKTHROUGH CURVE OF A VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUND (VOC) WITH ESTIMATION OF THE SURFACE DIFFUSION COEFFICIENT AND SURFACE PORE FLUX RATIO BY MODELING AND COLUMN TEST

Lee, Byoung Ho; Lee, Joon Hee; Ryu, Sung II; Yoo, Yong June

Environmental Engineering Research 2001;6(3): 147-153.

Byoung Ho Lee^†, Joon Hee Lee, Sung II Ryu, and Yong June Yoo

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 680-749, Korea

Corresponding Author: Byoung Ho Lee ,Tel: +82-52-259-2279, Fax: +82-52-259-2629, Email: bhlee@mail.ulsan.ac.kr

Received: February 13, 2001; Accepted: July 13, 2001.

ABSTRACT

Separation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in water using activated carbon is known to be effective. Many water treatment plants have and will have employed a fixed column process of activated carbon in Korea. Simplified plug flow homogeneous surface diffusion model (PFHSDM) has been used to predict adsorption phenomena of organic matter in a fixed activated carbon column. Finite element method (FEM) was used to analyze the model. Out of regulated VOCs, eight materials were selected for the investigation. Surface diffusion coefficients and surface pore llux ratios of VOCs were obtained by modeling and small column test. It was found that VOCs had their own surface diffusion coefficients and surface pore diffusion flux ratios. With estimation of a surface diffusion coefficient and a surface pore diffusion flux ratio, the breakthrough curve of a VOC could be predicted very well.