Batch and column study of haloacetic acids adsorption onto granular activated carbon

The granular activated carbon (GAC) was used as an adsorbent for its ability to remove haloacetic acids (HAAs) from drinking water by batch and column experiments. Various thermodynamic parameters such as ∆Go, ∆Ho and ∆So have been calculated. The thermodynamics of HAAs onto GAC system indicates spontaneous and exothermic nature of the process. The ability of GAC to adsorb HAAs in a fixed bed column was investigated as well. The effect of operating parameters such as flow rate and inlet HAAs concentration on the sorption characteristics of GAC was investigated. The total adsorbed quantities, equilibrium uptakes and total removal percents of HAAs related to the effluent volumes were determined by evaluating the breakthrough curves obtained at different flow rates and different inlet HAAs concentrations for adsorbent. The data confirmed that the total amount of sorbed HAAs and equilibrium HAAs uptake decreased with increasing flow rate and increased with increasing inlet HAA5 concentration. The Adams–Bohart model was used to analyze the experimental data and the model parameters were evaluated.   Key words: Adams–Bohart model, adsorption, fixed bed column, granular activated carbon, haloacetic acid removal, breakthrough curve.