Globally, more than 884 million people lack access to safe water to drink. As an urgent and emerging water crisis, humanitarian organizations have worked to provide aid by treating contaminated water through a common treatment process called disinfection. In disinfection, chlorine is added to and reacts with water to form hypochlorous acid. When hypochlorous acid reacts with naturally occurring organic matter dissolved in the water, disinfection byproducts (DBPs) are unintentionally created. One group of DBPs, trihalomethanes (THMs), are regulated by the World Health Organization (WHO) due to public health concerns of bladder cancer, liver, kidney, and central nervous problems. THMs consist of halogen-containing chemicals like chloroform, bromoform, bromodichloromethane, and dibromochloromethane. Granular activated carbon has been identified as a method to remove trihalomethanes from drinking water. However, granular activated carbon is often expensive and unsustainable due to most commonly being made from coal. Biochar has been identified as a low-cost yet effective adsorbent to remove contaminants from non-potable water. It is similar to activated carbon, but it can be made from agricultural waste, making it more sustainable and cost-effective than activated carbon. This study focuses on comparing adsorption capacities of activated carbon and corn cob biochar to identify the efficacy of the biochar to remove DBPs from drinking water. Preliminary work has centered on batch adsorption tests that determine the adsorption capacity of activated carbon. Tests using biochar to remove THMs can then be compared to an industry standard, activated carbon. This work is important to help water distributors improve water quality and prevent unintentional harm caused by disinfection byproducts. Lastly, this research is vital in humanitarian crises where THM levels are high due to emergency chlorination. Using biochar as a low-cost, sustainable adsorbent to remove THMs from drinking water can diminish the inequality of access to clean water.

Low-cost adsorbent for disinfection byproduct removal from drinking water

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ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.