Environmental Engineering: Fundamentals and Design - Chapter 10

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TOC > Ch. 10 > 10.9 Adsorption

# Chapter 10 Drinking Water Treatment

David W. Hand and Qiong Zhang

## Adsorption

Water supplies can be contaminated with synthetic organic chemicals (SOCs) from agricultural runoff or commerical and industrial sources such as the leaking underground storage tank pictured at right. These chemicals are not efficiently removed by the simple water treatment process described above.

These chemicals can be removed by passing the water through a layer of activated carbon in a column. The carbon granules strongly attract organic chemicals removing them from the water by a process called adsorption. When the carbon is full and can't hold any more chemical, it is removed from the column, heated to burn off contaminants and can then be re-used.

Granular activated carbon | An activated carbon granule, magnified with an ordinary microscope to illustrate structure. | An activated carbon granule, magnified with an electronmicroscope to show pores and large surface area.

#### Credits

Leaking Underground Storage Tank photo:
Granular Activated Carbon with Dime photo: Emil Groth (Michigan Tech).
Activated Carbon Granule with Microscope Magnification photo: Millenium Inorganic Chemicals. Permission pending.
Activated Carbon Granule with Electronmicroscope Magnification photo: Millenium Inorganic Chemicals. Permission pending.

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