How aromatic dissolved organic matter differs in competitiveness against organic micropollutant adsorption

Activated carbon is employed for the adsorption of organic micropollutants (OMPs) from water, typically present in concentrations ranging from ng L⁻¹ to μg L⁻¹. However, the efficacy of OMP removal is considerably deteriorated due to competitive adsorption from background dissolved organic matter (DOM), present at...

Associating properties of dissolved organic matter to competitiveness against organic micropollutant adsorption onto activated carbon

To eliminate organic micropollutants (OMPs) from (surface) water, activated carbon adsorption is a cost-effective technology to remove a broad range of OMPs without producing any byproducts. However, co-existing dissolved organic matter (DOM), at much higher concentrations (mg C/L) than OMPs (ng/L-μg/L), inducing adsorption competition, can...

Unraveling competition versus adsorbability of dissolved organic matter against organic micropollutants onto activated carbon

It was widely acknowledged that dissolved organic matter (DOM) in natural water has ubiquitous competitiveness against organic micropollutants (OMPs) during adsorption onto activated carbon. However, some (model) low molecular weight organics have been reported to adsorb onto activated carbon, but were not competitive against co-adsorbates....

How properties of low molecular weight model competitors impact organic micropollutant adsorption onto activated carbon at realistically asymmetric concentrations

Low molecular weight (LMW) dissolved organic matter (DOM) is the predominant competitor for adsorption sites against organic micropollutants (OMPs) in activated carbon adsorption. However, top-down approaches using highly complex mixtures of real water DOM do not allow to concisely examine the impacts of specific LMW DOM molecular properties...