Trihalomethane removal by activated carbon fiber

For the safety of drinking water, trihalomethanes are removed by adsorption onto activated carbon fiber from single-component solutions. The amounts a dsorbed onto adsorbents with large surface area and/or pore volume were sma ll. Stronger surface hydrophobicity of adsorbent was correlated with a larg er amount of trihalomethanes adsorbed. A trihalomethane with bromine was ad sorbed to a greater extent than that with chlorine. The differences in the amounts adsorbed among trihalomethanes can be explained by the polarity of trihalomethane molecules. The amount of trihalpmethanes adsorbed was mainly dominated by the strength of hydrophobicity of activated carbon fibers.