Removal of total organic carbon from surface waters by Ag2O/CuFe2O4-loaded silica media filters.

This pilot-scale research was conducted at Ahvaz water treatment plant to investigate the removal of total organic carbon from surface waters by Ag₂O/CuFe₂O₄-loaded silica media filters. Ag₂O/CuFe₂O₄-loaded silica media filters were made with an internal diameter of 5 cm and a height of 150 cm to investigate the efficiency of filter-loaded media on the removal of total organic carbon, and the filter media put to place at 100 cm height inside the filter. The influent TOC of pilot filter was 8 to 10 mg/L. The maximum TOC removal by the silica sand filter was about 38%, while the Ag₂O/CuFe₂O₄-loaded silica sand filter removed more than 97% of the influent TOC in the first 4 h at 120 m3/m2·d filtration rate, pH 7, temperature 25°C and turbidity 10 NTU. Also, the results of TOC removal in different turbidity (10, 25, and 50 NTU) showed that the most TOC removal was in 10 NTU turbidity and then in 25 and 50 NTU, the rate of TOC removal in 8th hour was 97% and 96.7%, respectively. The obtained results of this study confirmed that the studied nanoparticles had positive effects on the reduction/removal of TOC in surface water sources. Also, the results of our study showed that the use of Ag₂O/CuFe₂O₄-loaded silica media filter can remove a significant amount of TOC in various conditions such as turbidity, loading rate, pH and temperature from raw water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]