EFFECT OF ANAEROBIC BIOLOGICAL-ACTIVITY ON THE ADSORPTIVE CAPACITY OFGRANULAR ACTIVATED CARBON

The impact of anaerobic biological activity on the capacity of granula r activated carbon (GAG) to adsorb organic compounds has not received much attention. In this study, the capacities of GAC for o-cresol obta ined from bottle-point isotherm experiments were compared with the cap acities measured in a completely mixed, biologically active, anaerobic GAC reactor treating a high-strength synthetic wastewater containing acetic acid, phenol, and o-cresol. O-cresol was not biodegraded in the reactors and was removed solely by adsorption. Because of the low con centrations of phenol measured in the effluents from the reactors, no competition for adsorption between phenol and o-cresol was observed. A lso, the role of biological activity in the regeneration of GAC was de monstrated by preloading GAC with phenol and recovering the adsorbed p henol after the establishment of an active bacterial film on the GAC s urface.