Fixed Bed Adsorption of Natural Organic Matter Using Ozonated Carbon Active

Chemical Engineering Department, Institut Teknologi Nasional Jl PHH. Mustofa no 23 Bandung 40124, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author : jono_suhartono@itenas.ac.id

Abstract

Nowadays water, one the most important substance in human life, are being much polluted by not only industrial activities but also caused by human activities and natural polluted material. One of the natural impurities that commonly occur in water is Natural Organic Matter (NOM). NOM are extracted organic compounds from soils, plants, or decomposed animals that infiltrate into the water body when the water contacts with those materials. Thus, the presence of NOM in water body is inevitable. Many techniques have been applied to remove this impurity such as coagulation, flocculation, and filtration. In this research, NOM were controlled using ozonated activated carbon in a fixed bed adsorption system. There were two parameters studied that are activated carbon ozonation time that ranging from 5 - 25 minutes and the fixed bed height of 1 - 7.5 cm. Interestingly, the investigation showed that the optimum condition for the bed height was obtained at 6 cm whilst the optimum carbon active ozonation time was at 5 minute. The experiment was concordant with the conducted BET analysis that showed the highest activated carbon surface area at 5 minute compared to other ozonation time. The ozonated activated carbon was also found to be have slightly better adsorption performance compared to unozonated activated carbon bought from the market with capacity of ozonated activated carbon adsorption was found to be 6.12 ϰ 10^{-3 mg/g}.