The Role of pH and Initial Concentration on GAC Adsorption for Removal of Natural Organic Matter

Hong, Seongho

Environmental Engineering Research 1998;3(4): 183-190.

Seongho Hong^†

Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Soongsil University

Corresponding Author: Seongho Hong ,

Received: August 7, 1998; Accepted: September 6, 1998.

ABSTRACT

The presence of NOM in the drinking water sources can have major impact in treatment processes to reduce the disinfection by-products (DBPs). One of the best technology to reduce the DBPs is to eliminate the precursor materials such as NOM by GAC adsorption. The GAC adsorption capacity is affected by pH, initial concentration for same water source. In this study, the impact of pH and initial concentration were investigated with FNOM. The adsorbability of the FNOM was found to increase with decreasing pH in the range from 8.5 to 5.5 and initial concentration in the range from 2.12 to 5.65 mg/L. Also, natural waters, Paju water (PJW) and Jamsil reservoir(JSW), were used to investigate the pH and the initial concentration impact on GAC adsorption capacity. The PJW showed that the adsorbability at pH 6.1 was much higher than these at pHs 7.1 and 8.6. The JSW contained high percent of the strongly adsorbable fraction compare to PJW and FNOM at same pH.

Keywords: GAC | Adsorption | Natural Organic Matter | Freundlich Isotherm | IAST