Bromate ion removal by activated carbon

Bromate ion removal by powdered activated carbon (PAC) in batch mode and granular activated carbon (GAC) in continuous mode was evaluated under various operational conditions. For PAC, removal kinetics were found to be prohibitively slow, with high PAC doses required; removal improved with decreasing pH and decreasing natural organic matter. GAC was also influenced by these same water quality conditions, with an additional influence by empty bed contact time (EBCT). Bromate ion was found to be reduced to bromide ion and not all bromide in bromate was recovered supporting the theory that bromate reduction involves non-equilibrium sorption-reduction mechanisms. Both PAC and GAC results were found to be carbon-specific.