Pilot study on combined process of catalytic ozonation and biological activated carbon for organic pollutants removal

A combined process of catalytic ozonation in the presence of a novel heterogeneous catalyst and biological activated carbon was investigated for the removal of priority control organic pollutants, the reduction of genotoxicity, and the improvement of biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC). Results confirm that the catalytic ozonation has higher effectiveness for the removal of refractory harmful organic pollutants, the reduction of genotoxicity and the increase of bio-degradability of organics than ozonation alone, which results in lower pollution load for subsequent biological activated carbon process, and then leads to less organic pollutants penetrating biological activated carbon. The novel catalytic ozonation with this combined process exhibits excellent performance to guarantee the safety of drinking water.