Journal of Water Supply: Research and Technology—AQUA Vol 56 No 6–7 pp 411–418 © IWA Publishing 2007 doi:10.2166/aqua.2007.017

Adsorptive removal of geosmin by ceramic membrane filtration with super-powdered activated carbon

Yoshihiko Matsui, Takako Aizawa, Fumiaki Kanda, Naoko Nigorikawa, Satoru Mima and Yuji Kawase

Tap water free from unpleasant taste and odour is important for consumer satisfaction. We applied a super-powdered activated carbon (S-PAC) and microfiltration (MF) system to the removal of geosmin, a taste- and odour-causing compound. We used a specially pulverised PAC with a submicron particle size, much smaller than the normal PAC (N-PAC) particle size, as an adsorption pretreatment agent. MF and adsorption pretreatment with S-PAC removed geosmin with considerably greater efficiency and at a much lower dosage rate than with N-PAC. An S-PAC dosage of 2 mg/L was equivalent to an N-PAC dosage of more than 20 mg/L in the treatment of reagent-geosmin–spiked feed water – a dosage saving of 90%, with better removal. In experiments with feed water spiked with cultured Anabaena and geosmin, geosmin removal was attained with S-PAC at a dosage 10% of that of N-PAC. The superiority of S-PAC in removing naturally occurring geosmin from raw water was also confirmed. However, the dosage saving in this case was 75%. S-PAC also helped attenuate trans-membrane pressure increases in both physical backwash and chemical cleaning cycles. No significant trans-membrane pressure increase was observed during 4 months of MF operation with S-PAC addition, suggesting that S-PAC particles did not clog or foul the membrane.

Keywords: adsorption; algae; MF; odour; PAC; taste

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