Study on enhanced filtration for the 2-methylisoborneol removal in drinking water treatment processes

Pilot plant studies on 2-methylisoborneol(2-MIB)removal in drinking water by biological activated carbon-sand filter(BACSF)were conducted in this paper.The biological activated carbon was chosen from a BAC filter of an advanced treatment plant which has operated for 1 year.The results showed that the BACSF worked effectively when high concentrations of MIB in raw water especially in summer season.Most of the MIB was removed within 450 mm of the top packed media and the removal rate was 75.24%.The biomass on the surface of activated carbon increased to 103 nmolP/g carbon in August.In addition to MIB,turbidity,UV254 and DOC consumption value are also effectively removed by BACSF.The micro flocculation in combination with BACSF enhanced filtration test provided the evidence that the micro-flocculation made the contaminant in water forming the colloidal matter and it improved the BACSF removal ability of MIB.The optimum PACI dosage was 0.2 mg/L and the PACl contact time was 2-4 min.