Evaluation of Competitive Adsorption in Anaerobic GAC Reactors
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 121, Issue 10
Abstract
This study primarily investigates the role of competition in completely mixed anaerobic granular activated carbon (GAC) reactors treating a synthetic wastewater consisting of acetic acid, phenol, and o -cresol, and also addresses dual substrate biodegradation. The fate of the biodegradable nonadsorbable substrate followed very closely that of the biodegradable adsorbable substrate. As adsorption complemented biodegradation in this system, with the two being oppositely influenced by the GAC replacement rate, the removal of both biodegradable substrates exhibited both a maximum and minimum at GAC residence times of 30 and 12 days, respectively. On comparing the experimental capacities for o -cresol, which resisted biodegradation in the GAC reactors, with the o -cresol isotherm capacities, the effect of phenol competition for adsorption was found to be negligible when the effluent o -cresol concentrations were orders of magnitude higher than the concentrations of the biodegradable phenol. Competition effects decreased the adsorptive capacities of the reactors' GAC for o -cresol when phenol and o -cresol concentrations were of the same order of magnitude, although phenol sorptive capacities were predicted much more closely than at very low phenol concentration. The ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST) was found to fairly describe the competition for adsorption between phenol and o -cresol despite some discrepancies between the experimental and the model-predicted capacities at low adsorbate concentrations.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 121 • Issue 10 • October 1995
Pages: 712 - 719
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Oct 1, 1995
Published in print: Oct 1995
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