This study employed a rotating flume to examine the Powdered Activated Carbon （PAC） transport with water flow. The initial PAC concentration was 10 mg/L-30 mg/L, and PAC concentration versus time under a specified cross-sectional averaging fluid shear was observed. Results show that compared with PAC deposition in still water, PAC is depleted to zero faster under a fluid shear of 0.02 Pa, due to PAC agglomeration with the fluid shear. However, since PAC floc size only ranges from a single particle （2 μm） to approximate 6 μm, an increasing of instantaneous turbulent fluctuations could counteract the force of PAC floc settling downward, and as a result the steady PAC concentration increases with the increase of shear stress. It is found that the critical shear stress for PAC deposition is about 0.60 Pa, and further the PAC deposition probability is presented according to the experimental scenarios between 0.02 Pa and 0.60 Pa. Combining the PAC transport and deposition formula with PAC-pollutant removal model provides an insight into PAC deployment in raw water aqueduct for sudden open water source pollution.
Growing interest in using Powdered Activated Carbon （PAC） in raw water aqueduct, as a method of polluted surface water treatment, raises the question of transport of PAC in the aqueduct, which is related to the potential PAC erosion along the aqueduct. By means of a recently developed re-circulating flume, erosion rates of PAC with the grain size of 230 meshes （less than 62μm） depending on shear stress and bulk density were the discussed with real-time measurement of suspended PAC concentration. Lateral cross sectional averaging shear stress was decided by the actual value in the raw water conveying aqueduct of upstream Huangpu River, Shanghai, China, smaller than 1.8 N＇m 2. As for the bulk density, it was measured with compacting times varying from 1 d to 15 d, equivalent to 1 550 kg/m3-1 800 kg/m3. Experiments were conducted for the shear stress and bulk density separately, so as to isolate and quantify the effects of one of the parameters. The results demonstrate that, for a particular PAC particle, the erosion rate increases with shear stress and decreases with bulk density as a function of power form. A product of powers of the lateral cross sectional averaging shear stress and bulk density to estimate PAC erosion rate is presented by approximating experimental data sets.
