PREDICTING ADSORBABILITY OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDSON ACTIVATED CARBON

摘要

The objective of this study was the development of a comparative method to estimatethe adsorbability of organic compounds on activated carbon. For this purpose, aclassification of water pollutant adsorbabilities was developed, allowing for the evaluationsfor water treatment purposes. In practice, adsorption behavior of single compoundsis characterized by breakthrough curves, which describe the efficiency of activatedcarbon filtration. Experimental small-scale column tests can be used to classifysingle compounds with regard to their adsorbability. In addition to such experimentaltests, theoretic approaches to predict adsorption behavior of organic compoundsfrom adsorbate properties using structure-activity-relationships were performedand evaluated within this study. To simulate transport behavior of single compoundsin filter beds, information of mass transfer coefficients and equilibrium dataare required. For kinetic data calculations still existing, the necessary data for apurely computed simulation of breakthrough curves were acquired by using a modelfor calculating equilibrium data. In comparison to results from experimental approaches,the developed assessment method for estimating the hazardous potentialof contaminants occurring in raw waters proved to be applicable. In principle, a classificationof adsorbabilities by means of simulating breakthrough curves and applyinga special criterion regarding drinking water relevance is now possible.