New Publication: Sorption of Persistent and Mobile Contaminants to Activated Carbon
Persistent, mobile, and potentially toxic organic contaminants (PMs and PMTs) pose a growing threat to drinking water safety as they bypass natural and engineered barriers like soil and riverbanks. Their diverse chemical structures and complex interactions pose a challenge for understanding their sorption behavior to activated carbon, which crucial for designing effective water treatment solutions.
This study applies a combination of clustering and distance correlation to a high quality dataset of 22 PM(T) contaminants and three well-characterized high-surface-area activated carbon (AC) materials. The study finds aromaticity, followed by hydrophobicity, as key parameters driving the sorption process. These findings pave the way for the design of new activated carbon materials beyond the specific examples presented here and serve as a proof-of-concept, demonstrating both the potential of clustering approaches in this field and the valuable insights that small datasets can reveal when analyzed with the right methods. They further contribute to the parameterization and further development of predictive approaches for the adsorption of PMs in engineered systems.
