Publication: Controlling organic micropollutants in urban (waste) water treatment by activated carbon adsorption and membrane technology

Population growth and aging, as well as water scarcity driven by climate change call for an enhanced control of organic micropollutants and contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in the urban water cycle, as progressively entailed in the EU and Portuguese legal framework on drinking water, urban wastewater treatment (UWWT) and water reuse. Multibarrier solutions, grounded on current barriers’ improvement, prioritizing low-energy, physical barriers (to minimize byproducts, resources’ use, and carbon footprint) and producing fit-for-purpose water(s) are needed. Activated carbon(AC)-based and hybrid powdered activated carbon/low-pressure membrane processes have proven a huge potential for controlling organic micropollutants in drinking water treatment and water reclamation, but there is room for improving their sustainability and cost-efficiency with process optimization. This chapter aims to introduce the CECs’ problem in drinking water and UWWT and comprehensively explain the potential for controlling CECs using AC adsorption and hybrid adsorption/low-pressure membrane processes, based on our last decade’s lab-, pilot-, and full-scale results herein summarized and discussed.