Evaluation of the Use of Activated Carbon Powder for Removal of Emerging Micropollutants from Sewage Wastewater

Abstract In order to remove micropollutants from wastewater, it is necessary to adopt advanced treatment technologies, one of which is adsorption with activated carbon powder (ACP). This study evaluated the process of ACP adsorption to remove 18 emerging micropollutants from secondary wastewater effluent in the wastewater treatment plant in Büsnau, Stuttgart, Germany. Norit ACP was selected for this study. The contact time was 30 minutes. In this configuration, removal efficiency of pharmaceuticals was higher than 77% with 10mg/L of ACP, and with 30 mg/L it was higher than 90%. For PCPs, removal efficiency with 10 mg/L of ACP varied from 50% for triethyl citrate and up to 88% for tonalide (AHTN), while 20mg/L removed more than 83% of each PCP analyzed. For the FROPs, removal rates with 10mg/L of ACP varied from 49% for N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide (TCEP) and 91% for tris-(1,3-dichloroisopropyl)-phosphate (TDCP), and 20mg/L attained removal rates of 86% for TCEP and 99% for TDCP. Finally, MTBT and BT obtained removal levels equal to or higher than 60% with initial doses of 5mg/L of ACP. It was confirmed that treatment with ACP is an efficient solution for the removal of examined emerging micropollutants