EAP - Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences

PUBLISHED
SINCE 1952

proceedings
of the estonian academy of sciences

ISSN 1736-7530 (Electronic)
ISSN 1736-6046 (Print)

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CiteScore: 2.4

Impact Factor (2022): 0.9

Removal of heavy metals and total organic carbon from wastewater using powdered activated carbon; pp. 100–110

PDF | https://doi.org/10.3176/proc.2019.1.10

Authors

Erki Lember, Karin Pachel, Enn Loigu

Abstract

Sources of heavy metals and various micropollutants and their journey into the environment are relatively well studied today. One of the areas where a large proportion of micropollutants end up is wastewater treatment plants (WWTP); therefore, plant operators have become increasingly concerned about how to meet pollution requirements and to reduce pollutant loadings to the environment. This study analyses two possible technological alternatives to remove micropollutants using powdered activated carbon (PAC) by conducting laboratory tests. In the first alternative, a tertiary treatment was conducted with PAC dosed into the treated effluent of the operating WWTP. In the second alternative, PAC was dosed into the bioreactor. The decrease in organic matter and organic micropollutants was measured using the sum parameter total organic carbon (TOC). The tests revealed that for the removal of Cu and TOC the tertiary treatment was more effective, with removal efficiencies of 10.9% and 82.1%, respectively. On the other hand, dosing PAC into the bioreactor had a better removal efficiency for Cr (48.3%), Ni (67.5%), Zn (55.4%), Pb (36.3%), and As (66.7%). As to the removal efficiencies per 1 g of PAC, the highest effect was achieved with the dose of 34 mg/L of PAC dosed into the effluent and 14 mg/L of PAC dosed into the bioreactor. Consequently, the selection of technology requires assessment of the capital costs, operating costs, and sludge treatment technology because dosing PAC into the bioreactor will move all the adsorbed hazardous compounds into the sludge phase, thereby making an immediate use of the sludge complicated.

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