Removal of Perfluorinated Compounds from Post-Emergency Wastewater by Advanced Oxidation Process and Granular Activated Carbon Adsorption
Abstract
This research presents a novel approach to remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) impacted wastewater with high (~100 mg/L) total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations. A treatment-train process was investigated involving an ultraviolet (UV)/hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) advanced oxidation process (AOP) followed by filtration using Calgon Filtrasorb 600 (F600) granular activated carbon (GAC). UV/H2O2 AOP experiments were conducted to determine whether TOC concentrations could be reduced as a pre-treatment step before filtering the water with F600-GAC. Results showed using UV/H2O2 AOP reduced TOC in solution by > 98%. Reducing TOC concentrations was achieved by using a 250 mg/L H2O2 concentration and operating the UV/H2O2 AOP system for 8-hours. Rapid small-scale column tests (RSSCT) were used to determine whether pre-treatment with AOP affects GAC adsorption capacity for PFAS, specifically perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The UV/H2O2 AOP pre-treatment process increased GAC capacity through 10% breakthrough (BV10) for PFOS by 1800% (increasing the adsorbents solid phase concentration from 3 mg-PFOS/g-GAC without pre-treatment up to > 52 mg-PFOS/g-GAC with pre-treatment). The pre-treatment process also improved BV10 GAC capacity for PFOA by 1100% (1.1 mg-PFOA/g-GAC up from 0.1 mg-PFOA/g-GAC) when operating the UV/H2O2 AOP for 8-hours versus two-hours.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 22, 2018
- Accession Number
- AD1056482
Entities
People
- Sean M Dyson
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology