title: Removal of micropollutants with coarse-ground activated carbon for enhanced separation with hydrocyclone classifiers.
abstract: One key technology to eliminate organic micropollutants (OMP) from wastewater effluent is adsorption using powdered activated carbon (PAC). To avoid a discharge of highly loaded PAC particles into natural water bodies a separation stage has to be implemented. Commonly large settling tanks and flocculation filters with the application of coagulants and flocculation aids are used. In this study, a multi-hydrocyclone classifier with a downstream cloth filter has been investigated on a pilot plant as a space-saving alternative with no need for a dosing of chemical additives. To improve the separation, a coarser ground PAC type was compared to a standard PAC type with regard to elimination results of OMP as well as separation performance. With a PAC dosing rate of 20 mg/l an average of 64.7 wt% of the standard PAC and 79.5 wt% of the coarse-ground PAC could be separated in the hydrocyclone classifier. A total average separation efficiency of 93-97 wt% could be reached with a combination of both hydrocyclone classifier and cloth filter. Nonetheless, the OMP elimination of the coarse-ground PAC was not sufficient enough to compete with the standard PAC. Further research and development is necessary to find applicable coarse-grained PAC types with adequate OMP elimination capabilities.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Sanitary Engineering, Water Quality and Solid Waste Management, University of Stuttgart, Bandtäle 2, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany E-mail: nikolai.otto@iswa.uni-stuttgart.de.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Otto
authors.affiliation: Institute for Sanitary Engineering, Water Quality and Solid Waste Management, University of Stuttgart, Bandtäle 2, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany E-mail: nikolai.otto@iswa.uni-stuttgart.de.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Platz
authors.affiliation: Institute for Sanitary Engineering, Water Quality and Solid Waste Management, University of Stuttgart, Bandtäle 2, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany E-mail: nikolai.otto@iswa.uni-stuttgart.de.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.affiliation: Ökoservice GmbH, Abwasser- und Umwelttechnik, Köngener Straße 14, 73770 Denkendorf, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wutscherk
authors.affiliation: Institute for Sanitary Engineering, Water Quality and Solid Waste Management, University of Stuttgart, Bandtäle 2, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany E-mail: nikolai.otto@iswa.uni-stuttgart.de.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Menzel
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D002606:Charcoal / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D002606:Charcoal; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical