School of Sustainable Engineering and The Built Environment, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-3005, USA; Environmental R&D Center, Institute of Environmental Science & Technology, SK Innovation, 325 Expo‑ro Yuseong‑gu, Daejeon 305‑712, South Korea.
School of Sustainable Engineering and The Built Environment, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-3005, USA.
Water Res. 2024 Dec 1;267:122461. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.122461. Epub 2024 Sep 16.
Activated carbon block (ACB) filters are widely used in point-of-use (POU) drinking technology to remove tastes, odors, and organic compounds from drinking water, and when modified can even remove inorganic pollutants (e.g., arsenate, lead, copper). To introduce ACB technologies to the POU market, thorough assessment and testing are required to meet the National Sanitary Foundation 53 certification. Testing to gain this certification can be costly and time-consuming and is usually only done on the final product before commercial distribution. We developed and explored how a cylindrical "plug" cored from an ACB can be used in a mini-core apparatus with low water volumes, to mimic full-sized ACB performance. These mini-cores allow the same outside-in radial flow conditions as the full-sized ACB. After addressing potential hydraulic channeling problems, tests with chloroform or arsenate confirmed the ability of the mini-core ACB "plugs" to mimic the performance of full-sized cartridge unit. The benefit of the mini-core ACB "plug" lab-scale approach lays the foundation for testing methodologies that can evaluate a range of pollutants, water chemistries, or material modifications using a small fraction of water compared to full-sized ACB filter. Overall, the development of a mini-core ACB testing apparatus is a key advancement towards sustainable water purification, impacting environmental health, resource conservation, and global access to safe water.
活性炭块（ACB）过滤器广泛应用于现场（POU）饮用水技术，用于去除饮用水中的味道、气味和有机化合物，并且经过改性后甚至可以去除无机污染物（例如，砷酸盐、铅、铜）。为了将 ACB 技术引入 POU 市场，需要进行彻底的评估和测试，以满足国家卫生基金会 53 认证的要求。为了获得此认证而进行的测试既昂贵又耗时，通常仅在商业分发前对最终产品进行。我们开发并探索了如何使用来自 ACB 的圆柱形“塞子”在具有低水量的微型核心装置中使用，以模拟全尺寸 ACB 的性能。这些微型核心允许与全尺寸 ACB 相同的从外向内的径向流动条件。在解决潜在的水力窜流问题之后，使用氯仿或砷酸盐的测试证实了微型核心 ACB“塞子”模拟全尺寸筒式单元性能的能力。微型核心 ACB“塞子”实验室规模方法的优势为使用与全尺寸 ACB 过滤器相比一小部分水来评估一系列污染物、水化学或材料改性的测试方法奠定了基础。总的来说，微型核心 ACB 测试装置的开发是朝着可持续水净化方向迈出的关键一步，这对环境健康、资源保护以及全球获得安全用水产生了影响。
