Granular activated carbon and biological activated carbon treatment of dissolved and sorbed polychlorinated biphenyls

The most widely practiced treatment method for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in aqueous wastes is activated carbon adsorption. However, the presence of particulates in aqueous wastes may affect treatment processes primarily designed to treat dissolved PCBs because PCBs tend to partition strongly to solid surfaces. In this research, bench-scale studies were conducted to investigate the performance of granular activated carbon (GAC) and biological activated carbon (BAC) processes for treating aqueous wastes containing dissolved and sorbed PCBs. When all influent PCBs were dissolved, influent PCBs of approximately 175 μg/L were removed to approximately 0.2 μg/L in the BAC column, compared to approximately 0.8 μg/L in the GAC column. A reduction in the extent of PCB removal was observed for both GAC and BAC processes when 10 mg/L of 0.5-μm polystyrene particles were added to the influent. In the presence of influent particulates, PCB removal was significantly better in the BAC column and equaled 99% compared to 62% in the GAC column. Performance differences between the GAC and BAC columns were attributed to higher particulate capture efficiency of the biological film covering the activated carbon in the BAC column. Biological activated carbon columns thus seem to offer advantages to conventional GAC processes for aqueous wastes containing either dissolved or sorbed PCBs.