Combined microfiltration and adsorption process applied to public water supply treatment: water quality influence on pesticides removal.

Granular activated carbon (GAC) fixed bed adsorption technology was applied to remove carbamates carbaryl, methomyl and carbofuran from public water supply. In order to minimize the effect of clogging and to evaluate adsorbent saturation for carbamates, the microfiltration (MF) was previously used to adsorb and the backwash procedure of the GAC bed was carried out. The determination and quantification of the carbamates were performed by analytical technique in high performance liquid chromatography with post-column derivatization and fluorescence detector. The MF of the water previously adsorbed in the GAC fixed bed allowed the greater removal of 100% of the carbamates pesticides with an initial concentration of 25 μg L-1 during the first 48 h of operation. The saturation of the GAC fixed bed occurred in 240 h, due to the partial removal of the natural organic matter by the MF, consequently the competition for adsorptive sites of the GAC was smaller. The backwashing procedure contributed to the partial recovery of the performance of the hydraulic filtration and allowed to identify the saturation of the adsorption column, since the sealing phenomenon preceded the saturation. Finally, the use of public water supply was considered a relevant and positive aspect, since it allowed the identification of the performance of this technology in the removal of carbamates pesticides considering the presence of substances inherent to the public water supply.