AWWA JAW20174

The air stripping of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) from water was optimized by taking into account both capital and operating costs. By using Onda's correlation for mass transfer coefficient and computer simulations, optimal water loading rates and air-to-water ratios were established for five representative VOCs. The overall treatment cost appeared to be relatively insensitive to changes in the operating variables in the vicinity of the optimum region but increased rapidly as the conditions deviated from the optimum region. It was also observed that the overall treatment cost was very sensitive to capital cost but not significantly affected by power costs. The treatment cost dropped almost linearly as temperature increased. Includes 13 references, tables, figures.