As part of an Environmental Protection Agency grant to reduce the trihalomethane concentration in the Melbourne, Florida drinking water, a granular activated carbon (GAC) plant was operated for approximately 1 year. Four GAC pilot plant systems were operated in parallel each treating a different influent. Raw water, coagulated, settled and filtered water, filtered water with ozone pretreatment, and filtered water with chlorine dioxide pretreatment were pumped through the individual systems. Influent and effluent concentrations of various pollutants were monitored regularly throughout the study. The raw water GAC system showed rapid breakthrough for color, total organic carbon (TOC) and trihalomethanes (THM's). It was concluded that GAC treatment of raw water was inefficient and would require enormous quantities of GAC. The three coagulated, settled, and filtered water systems showed little variation in the removal of color, TOC and THMFP. For this reason, ozone and chlorine dioxide would not be useful in increasing the removal of pollutants from the Melbourne water. The most attractive use of GAC was evident with the coagulated, settled, and filtered water. At no time during the study did the effluent concentrations approach the influent concentrations of the three major pollutants. In addition, the predicted capacity of the GAC based on batch studies was exceeded significantly. It appears biological growth was present within the activated carbon and is aiding the GAC with pollutant removal. With biological activation, carbon usage rates could be significantly reduced, thus making the GAC alternative economically feasible.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:rtd-1686 |
| Date | 01 January 1983 |
| Creators | Herr, Jeffrey L. |
| Publisher | University of Central Florida |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Retrospective Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Public Domain |
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