Removing Lead From Drinking Water With a Point‐of‐Use GAC Fixed‐Bed Adsorber

Abstract
An evaluation was carried out of a point‐of‐use (POU) granular activated carbon (GAG) fixed‐bed adsorber (FBA) for removing soluble and insoluble lead from drinking water. Several factors affected the removal of lead from water by GAC, including carbon type, particle size distribution, solution pH, contact time of water with GAC, surface loading of lead onto GAC, competitive interactions with other heavy metals, and the design of the POU–GAC–FBA. Minicolumns were used to determine the relative capacities of GAG for lead under varying water conditions and to help identify mechanisms of lead removal.