Granular activated carbon as a toxicity reduction technology for wastewater treatment

Journal Article · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996 · Preprints of Papers, American Chemical Society, Division of Fuel Chemistry

OSTI ID:433171

Butterworth, S L ^[1]

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1. Calgon Carbon Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

The Clean Water Act governs the discharge of wastewater to all navigable waterways in the U.S. It is the explicit purpose of this Act to prevent the discharge of toxic pollutants in toxic amounts to the nation`s surface water supplies. To achieve this goal, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) was established, whereby a facility wishing to release wastewater to a surface water system must obtain a permit to do so. This NPDES permit contains the wastewater quality criteria that must be met before the wastewater can be legally discharged. Historically, specific chemical limits have been used for establishing the quality of a wastewater discharged from a facility. The EPA developed a list of priority pollutants for which maximum discharge concentration limits were established. This regulatory approach had the advantage that straightforward protocols with clearly defined quantification limits were available for compliance and testing purposes. However, it became increasingly apparent that there were weaknesses with this approach when it was used exclusively. Many chemicals not included in the priority pollutant list will produce toxic responses from indigenous biota when released to a surface water. Therefore, the EPA developed methods for directly assessing the potential toxicity a discharge may generate in a receiving stream. The protocols and techniques for performing toxicity tests have been refined to the point the EPA is comfortable including them as another method for regulating the quality of a permitted discharge. This paper presents cases of how petroleum refineries have utilized activated carbon to achieve compliance.

• OSTI ID: 433171
• Report Number(s): CONF-960376--
• Journal Information: Preprints of Papers, American Chemical Society, Division of Fuel Chemistry, Journal Name: Preprints of Papers, American Chemical Society, Division of Fuel Chemistry Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 41; ISSN ACFPAI; ISSN 0569-3772
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ACTIVATED CARBON
PETROLEUM REFINERIES
POLLUTANTS
SURFACE PROPERTIES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE WATER
WATER TREATMENT