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Activated carbon is one of the most effective media for removing a wide range of contaminants from industrial and municipal waste waters, landfill leachate and contaminated ground. As the world’s most powerful adsorbent, it can cope with a wide range of contaminants. Different contaminants may be present in the same discharge and carbon may be used to treat the total flow, or it may be better utilized to remove specific contaminants as part of a multistage approach.

As with potable water, Chemviron Carbon has a dedicated reactivation facility that handles industrial grades of spent carbon. If required, the spent carbon can be returned and kept segregated – custom reactivation or the carbon can be taken from, and returned to, an industrial pool of carbon.

The specification and quality of this material is tightly controlled, ensuring the customer receives a reliable product. With dedicated industrial tankers and mobile equipment, Chemviron Carbon, can provide an exceptional service that helps customers meet and exceed their environmental responsibilities.

The typical range of environmental water contaminants that activated carbon is used to treat includes:

• Non-biodegradable organic compounds (COD)
• Adsorbable Organic Halogens (AOX)
• Toxicity
• Colour compounds and dyestuffs
• Inhibitory compounds for biological treatment systems
• Aromatic compound including phenol and bis-phenol A (BPA)
• Chlorinated/halogenated organic compounds
• Pesticides

Over 80% of European Union List I and II toxic substances under the Dangerous Substance Discharges Directive of 1976 (76/464/EEC) and 1986 (86/280/EEC) are well adsorbed by activated carbon.

GRANULAR ACTIVATED CARBON

CYCLECARB is a granular reactivated carbon supplied on a service basis for wastewater treatment and other non-food industrial liquid phase applications. Exhausted carbon from different customers are recycled and pooled together to maximise the flexibility and logistics of operating granular activated carbon adsorption systems.

RECYCLING BY THERMAL REACTIVATION

Once granular activated carbon is saturated or the treatment objective is reached, it can be recycled, by thermal reactivation, for reuse. Reactivation involves treating the spent carbon in a high temperature reactivation furnace to over 800^oC. During this treatment process, the undesirable organics on the carbon are thermally destroyed. Recycling by thermal reactivation is a highly skilled process to ensure that spent carbon is returned to a reusable quality. Chemviron Carbon operates Europe’s largest reactivation facilities and daily recycles large quantities of spent carbon for a diverse range of customers. Recycling activated carbon by thermal reactivation meets the environmental need to minimise waste, reducing CO₂ emissions and limiting the use of the world’s resources.

POWDERED ACTIVATED CARBON

Pulsorb PAX type powder activated carbon is also used in combination with activated sludge systems. In this process, the activated carbon is maintained in the aeration tanks by recirculating with the sludge. As well as adsorbing mainly non-biodegradable organic compounds, bacteria attach to the surface of the activated carbon improving the biological process.

The benefits of this process include:

• Improved removal of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), non-biodegradable organic compounds and toxicity
• Increased stability to shock loads
• Removal of inhibitory compounds including for nitrifying bacteria
• Improved sludge dewatering
• Reduced aerator foaming

Powder Activated Carbon is used in a number of instances during waste water treatment. Generally it is applied before an active sludge step or whenever products, maybe detrimental for the biology in a biological treatment, have to be removed on an accidental or seasonal basis. Chemviron Carbon's Pulsorb® PAX is specifically produced for this application.