Rapid small-scale minicolumn tests were carried out to simulate the atrazin
e adsorption in water phase with three palletized pitch-based activated car
bon fibers (ACF) and one commercial granular activated carbon (GAC). Initia
l atrazine solutions were prepared with pretreated ground water. Minicolumn
tests showed that the performance of highly activated carbon fibers (surfa
ce area of 1700 m(2)/g) is around 7 times better than the commercial GAC (w
ith surface area at around 1100 m(2)/g), whereas carbon fibers with medium
activation degree (surface area of 1500 m(2)/g) had a removal efficiency wo
rse than the commercial carbon. The high removal efficiency of the highly a
ctivated ACF is due to the wide-opened microstructure of the material, with
an appreciable contribution of the low size mesopores, maintaining at thes
e conditions a fast kinetic adsorption rate rather than a selective adsorbe
nt for micropollutants vs. natural organic matter. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scienc
e Ltd. All rights reserved