Activated carbon adsorption of PCBs from hazardous landfill leachate

Among the different organic pollutants commonly present in contaminated ground and surface waters, wastewaters, and hazardous landfill leachates, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have attracted much concern due to their wide distribution, high persistence in the environment, and possible adverse health effects. Although activated carbon adsorption has been demonstrated to be effective in removing PCBs from drinking water, little work has been done to evaluate their removal from leachate matrices. The present investigation therefore focused on the adsorption of PCBs from a hazardous landfill leachate. The leachate was characterized, and found to contain several organics such as phenol and dichlorobenzenes (COD = 10,000 mg/L). In order to examine the effect of background substances on adsorption, equilibrium studies were conducted with 14C radiolabeled PCBs using different background solutions including, organic free water (OFW), leachate matrix, and phenol. Furthermore, equilibrium studies were performed with leachate sediments, predominantly consisting of ferric hydroxide, to evaluate their capacity for PCBs