Adsorption and desorption characteristics of natural organic matter in natural waters on granular activated carbon

Abstract

The objective of this thesis was to study the adsorption and desorption characteristics of natural organic matter (NOM) adsorbed on granular activated carbon (GAC). Five different natural waters (Ottawa River, ON; St. Lawrence River, ON; Vars Ground Water, ON; Buffalo Pound Lake, SK; Ohio River, OH) were studied to see if the characteristic of irreversible adsorption was a universal phenomenon. This was studied by comparing desorption isotherms to adsorption isotherms. Preliminary long-term kinetic studies were used to ensure that the contact time was sufficient for equilibrium. The waters were also fractionated to further study the differences in adsorption and desorption properties of various surface waters. The fractionation techniques used were; ultrafiltration by membrane separation, extraction of humic acids using a methylmethacrylate resin (XAD8) and size exclusion chromatography using a sephadex gel in a glass column. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)