Treatment of stormwater via sorption has the potential to remove both colloidal and dissolved pollutants. Previous research shows that activated carbon produced from sewage sludge is very efficient in sorbing hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs), frequently detected in stormwater. The aim of this research was to determine whether the presence of dissolved organic matter (DOM) has a negative effect on the adsorption of HOCs onto sludge-based activated carbon (SBAC) in batch adsorption tests. Batch adsorption tests were used to investigate the influence of two types of DOM – soil organic matter and humic acid (HA) technical standard – on the sorption of HOCs onto SBAC, and whether preloading adsorbent and adsorbates with DOM affects HOC sorption. The results indicate that soil DOM and HAs do not have a significant negative effect on the adsorption of HOCs under tested experimental conditions, except for a highly hydrophobic compound. In addition, preloading SBAC or HOCs with DOM did not lead to lower adsorption of HOCs. Batch adsorption tests appear to be inefficient for investigating DOM effects on HOC adsorption, as saturating the carbon is difficult because of high SBAC adsorption capacity and low HOC solubility, so that limited competition occurs on the sorbent.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
Research Article|
June 06 2016
Sorption of DOM and hydrophobic organic compounds onto sewage-based activated carbon
Karin Björklund;
1Department of Civil Engineering, University of British Columbia, 6250 Applied Science Lane, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
2Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Sven Hultins Gata 8, Göteborg 41296, Sweden
E-mail: [email protected]
Search for other works by this author on:
Loretta Y. Li
Loretta Y. Li
1Department of Civil Engineering, University of British Columbia, 6250 Applied Science Lane, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
Search for other works by this author on:
Water Sci Technol (2016) 74 (4): 852–860.
Article history
Received:
January 15 2016
Accepted:
May 06 2016
Citation
Karin Björklund, Loretta Y. Li; Sorption of DOM and hydrophobic organic compounds onto sewage-based activated carbon. Water Sci Technol 17 August 2016; 74 (4): 852–860. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2016.240
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Could not validate captcha. Please try again.
eBook
Pay-Per-View Access
$38.00