A NOVEL ADSORPTION-ANAEROBIOSIS COLUMN FOR THE REMOVAL OF PERSISTENT ORGANICS FROM CONTAMINATED WATER

A novel adsorption-anaerobiosis column (AAC) system was used to treat persistent organics, namely neopentanoic acid (NPA, at 0.5 g l(-1)) an d 2-ethylhexanoic acid (EHA, at 1.0 g l(-1)), in contaminated water, T he fire-expanded clay pellets that were used to pack the column served as an adsorbent for organic contaminants and as a carrier for anaerob ic biofilm immobilization, The AAC system could remove 75% of the NPA and 98% of the EHA at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 2 days. The system could recover from a shock load equivalent to a 150% increase i n hydraulic and organic loads, caused by a sudden decrease of HRT from 5 to 2 days.