Assessing the Efficacy of Commercial Activated Carbon Adsorption in Removing Emerging Contaminants from Wastewater

Powdered activated carbon was used in different studies for evaluation in micropollutants removal. In this study, powdered activated carbon was tested to evaluate its removal efficiency for about 46 micropollutants. A total of 33 compounds were found in raw wastewater. The PAC was found to be efficient towards total suspended solids elimination. Powdered activated carbon reached high removal percentage for heavy metals (90%), while the majority of the other compounds it varied between 60 and 80%. The impact of advanced treatments combination with conventional treatments could lead to high removals.