Efficient Micro Carbon Column Rapid Breakthrough Technique for Water and Wastewater Treatability Studies Qi-Gang Chang, a Wei Zhang, a Wen-Xin Jiang, a Bing-Jing Li, a Wei-Chi Ying, a Wei Lin b a School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China; wcying@ecust.edu.cn (for correspondence) b Department of Civil Engineering, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105 Published online 14 September 2007 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ep.10221 A simple and cost-effective method for conducting adsorption breakthrough experiments in a microsize carbon column is proposed; it is much faster than the conventional methods. Relative to the existing micro- column rapid breakthrough (MCRB) methods, this method employs simplified procedure, low cost and readily available pump, sampler, and piping and fit- tings to allow its practice in an ordinary environ- mental laboratory. The efficient MCRB method may be employed to identify the best granular activated carbon, to verify its treatment effectiveness, and to estimate its capacity utilization rate and the adsorp- tion treatment cost. The effects of particle size and empty bed contact time on MCRB test results were determined. The validity and benefits of this MCRB method were demonstrated by the adsorption break- through data for phenol, red dye X3B, tannic acid, MTBE, 2,4-dichrophenol, and the organic pollutants in a biologically treated coking plant effluent. Ó 2007 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 26: 280–288, 2007 Keywords: adsorption breakthrough, microcolumn, rapid breakthrough, MCRB, capacity utilization INTRODUCTION Many adsorption column breakthrough experi- ments have to be conducted in a comprehensive car- bon adsorption treatability study program to select the best granular activated carbon (GAC), to deter- mine the capacity utilization rate for the GAC in the adsorber, and to estimate the GAC treatment cost. Without a fast, simple, and easy method for conduct- ing the necessary breakthrough test runs, the experi- mental program will be very time consuming and costly, making GAC adsorption technology less attrac- tive relative to other treatment alternatives. Methods for conducting adsorption breakthrough experiments are well known. Depending on the nature of the pollutants (volatility, absorbability, bio- degradability, and concentration in the feed), sample availability, type, and scale of the study (onsite or offsite, bench or pilot study), the most effective breakthrough experiments may employ conventional techniques using small (>100 g) and mini (>5 g) carbon columns or a rapid technique in micro (<2 g) carbon columns [1–4]. The conventional break- through techniques employ unsieved GAC and a flow rate to maintain the same empty bed con- tact time (EBCT) as those employed in the full size carbon adsorbers in actual treatment operations. Although the test procedures are simple and well established, the conventional breakthrough techni- ques often cannot be practiced in the laboratory because of the long test time and the large sample volume required to obtain the desired information. The microcolumn rapid breakthrough (MCRB) tech- nique overcomes such problems, since it employs much smaller sieved GAC particles (<80 mesh) and Ó 2007 American Institute of Chemical Engineers 280 October 2007 Environmental Progress (Vol.26, No.3) DOI 10.1002/ep