Experimental and Theoretical Study of MTBE Adsorption from Polluted Water on GAC and PAC in Continuous Process

Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) is an organic compound thatis used to increase the gasoline octane number. At the beginning of 1980s, by discovering the undesirable effects of tetra ethyl lead usage in fuel, MTBE began to be used worldwide. But gradually the undesirable effects of MTBE on environment had been revealed. Adsorption is the most conventional and economical technology for MTBE removal from polluted water. In this research, some experiments have been done for studying the adsorption of MTBE on different solid adsorbent in continuous processes. In continuous experiments, the water polluted with known initial MTBE concentration passes through an adsorption column containing two kinds of adsorbent including granular activated carbon (GAC), powdered activated carbon (PAC). By measuring MTBE concentration in exit flow at different times the effect of different operating parameters such as temperature, pH, and flow rate have been studied and the optimum condition have been determined. The batch experimental results have been used to calculate the constant parameters of Langmuir adsorption isotherm equations. A dynamic simulation of MTBE adsorption on activated carbon in an adsorption column has been proposed. The comparison of the experimental data with the values given by the proposed model for similar operating conditions, verifies the accuracy of the proposed mathematical model.