A Simplified Method to Determine The Powdered Activated Carbon Dose Required to Remove Methylisoborneol

Abstract

Equilibrium data obtained from a natural water with several different initial concentrations of 2-methylisoborneol (MIB) plot as a single line on a percent remaining, Ce/Co × 100%, versus carbon dose, Cc, plot. This indicates that the percent removal of MIB is independent of its initial concentration in natural water for a given PAC dose. The relationship is specific for each type of PAC, and it is not valid at very high MIB concentrations, however. These data show that, predicting the minimum amount of carbon necessary to effectively mitigate any MIB episode, may be accomplished by analyzing a single bottle-point isotherm. The robustness of this approach was shown through the use of four water sources, fourteen different carbons, and MIB concentrations ranging from 45 ng/l to 178 μg/l.