AWWA JAW20176

Granular activated carbon (GAC) is a complex treatment process. A failure to establish reasonable treatment objectives and proper design procedures can make it an expensive process. In this article, procedures with which to determine preliminary fixed-bed adsorber design calculations for single solutes are described. Correlations are proposed and verified to determine single-solute isotherm and mass transfer parameters. These correlations are used in combination with a simplified version of a mass transfer model to calculate mass transfer zone lengths and the maximum amount of water that may be treated. The calculated results can then be used to select the optimum fixed-bed adsorber operation. Comparisons of this simplified procedure with actual pilot-plant and full-scale data are presented to demonstrate its validity. Includes 36 references, tables, figures.