One of the most effective ways to increase public health is by providing clean and safe drinking water for all citizens. To accomplish this goal, water treatment plants employ several different methods to rid raw water of potentially harmful contaminants. One such contaminant is natural organic matter (NOM), which is present in most drinking water sources at various concentrations. NOM is a complex matrix of organic materials generated by the biological processes in aquatic environments. Unfortunately, conventional water treatment processes (coagulation, flocculation, and filtration) are not efficient in removing NOM. Furthermore, the common treatment process of chlorination results in the production of trihalomethanes (THMs), halogenic acetic acids (HAAs) and other harmful disinfection byproducts (DBPs) when NOM are present in the water. Therefore, the removal of NOM from drinking water is of paramount importance in water treatment; in fact, in the last few decades, activated carbon has become widely used for adsorption of NOM from drinking water sources.<br/>However, commercial activated carbon is expensive and consumable, so there exists a need to explore alternative options. One possible alternative is using spent coffee grounds for NOM adsorption. A few scholars reported that activated carbon produced from spent coffee grounds proved to be suitable for the removal of organic pollutants such as dissolved dyes. These reports from other scholars contribute to the hypothesis of our research that activated carbon produced from spent coffee residue is an effective alternative for NOM removal in water treatment. The primary objective of this undergraduate research project was to remove NOM from drinking water using spent coffee grounds as a substitute for commercial activated carbon. In the present research, spent coffee grounds went through the activation process in our laboratory, which consists of a chemical treatment and pyrolysis. The adsorption capacity of recycled coffee residue for NOM was compared to the adsorption capacity of commercial activated carbon. In addition, the removal efficiency of NOM was evaluated in bench-scale water treatment. Series of jar tests were performed with a ferric coagulant and recycled activated carbon for synthetic water that contains silica particles and NOM.

Using spent coffee grounds for adsorption of natural organic matter in water treatment

2019 Spring National Meeting

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