ABSTRACT
The preparation, characterization, and performance evaluation of an innovative mesoporous activated carbon (C-XHIT) were conducted in this study. Comparative evaluation with commercial carbons (C-PS and C-ZJ15) and long-term performance evaluation of C-XHIT were conducted in small-scale system-A (S-A) and pilot-scale system-B (S-B-1 and S-B-2 in series), respectively, for treating water from Songhua River. The cumulative uptake of micropollutants varied with KBV (water volume fed to columns divided by the mass of carbons, m(3) H2O/kg carbon) was employed in the performance evaluation. The results identified that mesoporous and microporous volumes were simultaneously well-developed in C-XHIT. Higher mesoporosity (63.94 %) and average pore width (37.91 Å) of C-XHIT ensured a higher adsorption capacity for humic acid compared to C-PS and C-ZJ15. When the KBV of S-A reached 12.58 m(3) H2O/kg carbon, cumulative uptake of organic pollutants achieved by C-XHIT increased by 32.82 and 156.29 % for DOC (QC) and 22.53 and 112.48 % for UV254 (QUV) compared to C-PS and C-ZJ15, respectively; in contrast, the adsorption capacity of NH4 (+)-N did not improve significantly. C-XHIT achieved high average removal efficiencies for DOC (77.43 ± 16.54 %) and UV254 (83.18 ± 13.88 %) in S-B over 253 days of operation (KBV = 62 m(3) H2O/kg carbon). Adsorption dominated the removal of DOC and UV254 in the initial phases of KBV (0-15 m(3) H2O/kg carbon), and simultaneous biodegradation and adsorption were identified as the mechanisms for organic pollutant uptake at KBV above 25 m(3) H2O/kg carbon. The average rates contributed by S-B-1 and S-B-2 for QC and QUV were approximately 0.75 and 0.25, respectively. Good linear and exponential correlations were observed between S-A and S-B in terms of QC and QUV obtained by C-XHIT, respectively, for the same KBV ranges, indicating a rapid and cost-saving evaluation method. The linear correlation between mesoporosity and QC (QUV) was also identified by the evolution of the property indices of C-XHIT.
