Mg/Si- and Ag-Doped Carbon-Based Media Rainwater Filtration System for Multiple Pollutants Removal

So Yeon Yoon; Hyeseong Kim; Reneesha Valiyaveettil Basheer; Nurhaslina Abd Rahman; Seok Byum Jang; Kien Tiek Wong; Deok Hyun Moon; Choe Earn Choong; Min Jang

doi:10.3390/ma17225638

Mg/Si- and Ag-Doped Carbon-Based Media Rainwater Filtration System for Multiple Pollutants Removal

Materials (Basel). 2024 Nov 18;17(22):5638. doi: 10.3390/ma17225638.

Authors

So Yeon Yoon^{1

2}, Hyeseong Kim¹, Reneesha Valiyaveettil Basheer¹, Nurhaslina Abd Rahman^{1

2}, Seok Byum Jang¹, Kien Tiek Wong^{1

2}, Deok Hyun Moon³, Choe Earn Choong^{1

2}, Min Jang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Engineering, Kwangwoon University, Seoul 01897, Republic of Korea.
² Plasma Bioscience Research Center, Kwangwoon University, Seoul 01897, Republic of Korea.
³ Department of Environmental Engineering, Chosun University, Gwangju 61452, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

In this study, the removal performances of a multi-pollutant elimination cartridge system (MPECS) composed of palm shell waste-based activated carbon (PSAC), magnesium (Mg)/silicon (Si)-doped PSAC (Mg/Si-PSAC), and silver (Ag)-doped PSAC (Ag-PSAC) for heavy metals, organic pollutants, and Escherichia coli were investigated. Mg/Si impregnation significantly improved heavy metal removal using PSAC by increasing the surface area and adding more sorption sites to the magnesium silicate nanolayer. Fixed-bed column experiments showed that the MPECS column outperformed PSAC and commercial activated carbon (DJAC), with a 1.5 to 2.0 times higher E. coli removal and a higher removal of organic pollutants and heavy metals. The MPECS column, with its disinfection ability and adsorption of heavy metals and organic matter, is a promising system for removing multiple pollutants from rainwater.

Keywords: adsorption; filtration; multi-pollutants; palm shell activated carbon; rainwater.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea, funded by the Korean government (Grants 2021R1A6A1A03038785, 2023R1A2C1003464, RS-2023-00240726, and RS-2023-00282898) and the Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs (Grant S2721542).