Removal of turbidity and color from surface water using pre biological granular activated carbon filter (PreBioGACF) for coastal municipal and industrial use

G. Y. Fu, H. Hammerstein, P. A. Work, S. Peng, D. Kreller

Research output: Contribution to book or proceedingConference articlepeer-review

Abstract

Although surface water is abundant in coastal Georgia, it is not widely used in many industrial applications because of its high turbidity and dark color. Instead groundwater is utilized, with the Upper Floridan Aquifer (UFA) serving as the primary source. The aquifer is overutilized in some locations, resulting in significant drawdown and even saltwater intrusion. The most likely potential solution to this problem is to reduce utilization of the aquifer, and rely instead on surface waters if innovative and cost-effective processes can be utilized to remove turbidity and color from coastal plain rivers. This study addressed the potential of using biological granular activated carbon filters (BioGACF) as the first unit operation in a water treatment train as pretreatment (referred to as a PreBiofilter or PreBioGACF). Two bench-scale PreBiofilters were fabricated and operated side-by-side with the same conditions except for operation mode: PreBiofilter A was half-exposed to air and half-submerged in water while PreBiolfiter B was fully submerged in water. The Canoochee River in coastal Georgia served as the source water. The raw water samples and the filtrate samples from the two PreBiofilters were collected and water chemical analysis was performed for turbidity, color, TOC/DOC and molecular weight (MW) fractions of DOC. Meanwhile, the major affecting factors including temperature, pH, alkalinity, dissolved oxygen (DO), ammonia-nitrogen, and orthophosphate concentrations were also monitored. In this study, the impacts of PreBiofilters on subsequent water treatment trains such as whether they significantly reduced dosages of coagulant were investigated by conducting jar tests with raw water and the filtrate from the PreBiofilters, respectively. After allowing time for biofiltration organisms to develop on the filters, they were capable of removing 30-50% of the raw water turbidity, 25-34% of the raw water TOC, and 14-25% of raw water DOC. The subsequent required dosage of alum for the filtrate from the PreBiofilters was reduced by 16-50% compared with that for the raw water samples, in order to achieve the desired final turbidity of 1.0 NTU. Overall, the PreBiofilter is a promising pretreatment process to remove color and turbidity from surface water. 2010

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationWater Quality Technology Conference and Exposition 2010
Pages1351-1370
Number of pages20
StatePublished - 2010
EventWater Quality Technology Conference and Exposition 2010 - Savannah, GA, United States
Duration: Nov 14 2010Nov 18 2010

Publication series

NameWater Quality Technology Conference and Exposition 2010

Conference

ConferenceWater Quality Technology Conference and Exposition 2010
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySavannah, GA
Period11/14/1011/18/10

Keywords

  • Biofilter
  • Color
  • Dissolved organic carbon (DOC)
  • Granular activated carbon
  • PostBiofilter
  • PreBiofilter
  • Total organic carbon (TOC)

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