Publication in the Journal of Water Process Engineering on the effect of powdered activated carbon in aeration basins

In the case of direct dosing of powdered activated carbon (PAC) into the aeration tank for further trace substance elimination, the biological reactor simultaneously serves as a contact space for the adsorptive processes on PAC. Our investigations within the KomPhoS project show that a specific PAC dose of 2.5 mg PAC/mg DOC is required for 80 % elimination of nine selected trace substances. Here, we demonstrated for the first time that in the activated sludge system, especially the sorption of hydrophobic organic compounds is a competitor for the desired trace compound adsorption. The manuscript is available free of charge until 10.12.2022 at the following link: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1fyIl7taLYPnHq.