Biological activated carbon filter for greywater post-treatment: Long-term TOC removal with adsorption and biodegradation

Biological activated carbon (BAC) filters can be used to remove residual total organic carbon (TOC) from greywater after a membrane bioreactor. The two main TOC removal processes are adsorption to the granular activated carbon (GAC) and biological degradation. Biodegradation leads to the growth of microorganisms in the filter bed, which can lead to increased pressure loss over the filter bed. However, the roles of sorption and biodegradation in long-term TOC removal and how they complement each other are unclear. We monitored TOC removal from greywater in a BAC filter installed following a membrane bioreactor over more than 900 days. Removal performance depended on the operational time of the BAC filter, the influent TOC concentration, and in the upper part of the filter on the empty bed contact time (EBCT). Across the overall filter, the EBCT did not significantly influence TOC removal, showing that the filter was sufficiently large for the range of flow rates observed. Analysis of the long-term data revealed the equal importance of sorption and biodegradation over the whole operation period and the whole filter bed. Most of the TOC was removed in the upper part of the filter, where biodegradation was the dominant mechanism. In the lower part of the filter, sorption capacity remained and allowed high influent TOC concentrations to be buffered. The generous filter design with low average filtration rates ensured long-term TOC removal. The only maintenance needed was backwashing, which was required only after more than 800 days of operation. Backwashing effectively reduced the pressure loss but had no significant influence on the effluent water quality. Our study shows that BAC filters are a suitable post-treatment step for the treatment of greywater with highly variable flow and TOC concentrations.

Automated summary

The study found that both adsorption and biodegradation play important roles in BAC filters, with biodegradation being the dominant mechanism in the upper part of the filter and sorption capacity buffering high influent TOC concentrations in the lower part. The generous filter design with low average filtration rates ensures long-term TOC removal, with backwashing required only after more than 800 days of operation.