Dynamic interactions between cyclodextrin, an organic pollutant, and granular activated carbon in column studies

Abstract

In this study, the dynamic interactions between cyclodextrin (CD), an organic chemical and granular activated carbon (GAC) were investigated using column studies. Breakthrough curves of a chlorinated solvent, trichloroethylene (TCE) were obtained over a range of concentrations of 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HPCD) (0, 20, and 50 g L⁻¹) and flow velocities (1.0, 4.0, and 10.2 mL min⁻¹). Important transport parameters (i.e. residence time, dispersion coefficient, retardation factor) were estimated using truncated temporal moment analysis. Our result shows that increasing CD concentration resulted in earlier TCE breakthrough, demonstrated by decreasing residence times which are 306.23, 151.26, and 102.24 pore volumes for 0, 20, and 50 g L⁻¹ CD respectively. Comparison of the original breakthrough curves (BTCs) under different CD concentrations to the solubility-enhancement-rescaled BTCs showed (1) the presence of CD decreases the relative degree of TCE sorption to GAC and (2) all 3 curves exhibited similar rescaled times at which they reach 50% of the input concentration. The lowest flow rate, (1.0 mL min⁻¹), resulted in a more symmetrical BTC, indicating more ideal conditions were achieved under the longer exposure time provided by this flow rate. As the flow rate increases the first appearance of TCE in the eluent occurs relatively earlier and exhibits comparatively greater delay in achieving full breakthrough, suggesting non-equilibrium processes are more significant at higher flow rates.