Removal of Persistent Organic Pollutants and Compounds of Emerging Concern in Public-Owned Sewage Treatment Works: A Review - Environmental Contamination: Health Risks and Ecological Restoration - page 163

The. ability. of. AC. to. remove. POPs. and. CECs. depends. on. compound/
carbon. loading. ratio,. surface. area. of. AC,. contact. time,. and. physical. prop-
erties. of. the. target. compounds.. As. part. of. the. Safe. Drinking. Water. Act.
Amendments.of.1986,.the.use.of.GAC.adsorption.and.iltration.was.recom-
mended. as. the. best. available. technology. for. the. removal. of. organic. con-
taminants.from.drinking.water..But.inluent.in.a.POSTW.can.have.highly.
diverse.organic.contaminants.and.natural.organic.matter.(NOM)..The.balk.
content. of. NOM. could. compete. for. binding. sites. within. the. AC. structure.
and.would.reduce.the.eficacy.of.AC..Pretreatment.for.NOM.or.total.organic.
carbon.(TOC).would.be.an.important.factor.to.improve.the.eficiency.of.the.
AC.treatment.process..It.is.also.important.to.replace.and.regenerate.the.spent.
GAC.by.reactivation.treatment..
The. article. “Removal. of. EDCs. and. Pharmaceuticals. in. Drinking. and.
Reuse.Treatment.Processes”.by.Snyder.et.al..(2007).contains.more.than.331.
pages.with.numerous.tables.and.igures..The.U.S..Department.of.the.Interior.
Bureau.of.Reclamation.(October.2009).issued.a.108-page.report.on.CECs.and.
treatment. technologies. that. are. applicable. to. reducing. them.. Some. of. the.
original.data.in.Snyder's.article.were.tabulated.in.the.USDI.article..It.was.dif-
icult.to.establish.why.there.were.differences.in.the.performance.of.GAC.and.
PAC.with.regard.to.the.removal.eficiency.between.the.two.AC,.where.some.
of.these.data.have.been.summarized.in.Table.8.8..The.AC.as.listed.in.Table.5.1.
of.the.USDI.article.did.not.specify.whether.it.was.PAC.or.GAC..The.original.
data.from.Snyder.et.al..(2007).were.reviewed.carefully.and.summarized.in.
Tables.8.9.(hormones.and.antibiotics),.8.10.(other.pharmaceuticals),.and.8.11.
(agricultural.and.industrial.chemicals).

TABLE 8.8
Removal.Eficiency.by.Different.AC.Treatments

PowderActivated
Carbon b Compounds ActivatedCarbon a GAC b

Atrazine 63 3 63

Caffeine 59 16 59

Carbamazepine 72 16 72

Erythromycin 52 8 52

Estriol 58 < 1 58

Iopromide 31 72 31

Naproxen 60 6 60

Pentoxifylline 71 26 71

Source: . Data.extracted.from.U.S..Department.of.the.Interior.Bureau.of.
Reclamation,. Secondary/Emerging. Constituents. Report,.
Southern.California.Regional.Brine-Concentrate.Management,.
Study—Phase.I,.Lower.Colorado.Region,.October.2009.
a. Data.from.USDI.2009,.Table.5-1.
b. Data.from.USDI.2009,.Table.B-1.