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Effect of anaerobic biological activity on the adsorptive capacity of granular activated carbon
Author(s) -
Nakhla G. F.,
Suidan M. T.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
water environment research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1554-7531
pISSN - 1061-4303
DOI - 10.2175/106143095x133257
Subject(s) - phenol , adsorption , chemistry , effluent , activated carbon , powdered activated carbon treatment , acetic acid , wastewater , anaerobic exercise , nuclear chemistry , chromatography , organic chemistry , waste management , physiology , engineering , biology
The impact of anaerobic biological activity on the capacity of granular activated carbon (GAC) to adsorb organic compounds has not received much attention. In this study, the capacities of GAC for o‐cresol obtained from bottle‐point isotherm experiments were compared with the capacities measured in a completely mixed, biologically active, anaerobic GAC reactor treating a high‐strength synthetic wastewater containing acetic acid, phenol, and o‐cresol. O‐cresol was not biodegraded in the reactors and was removed solely by adsorption. Because of the low concentrations of phenol measured in the effluents from the reactors, no competition for adsorption between phenol and o‐cresol was observed. Also, the role of biological activity in the regeneration of GAC was demonstrated by preloading GAC with phenol and recovering the adsorbed phenol after the establishment of an active bacterial film on the GAC surface.