Patent ID: 8092687

Claim:
A method for treating water having a concentration of organic material contained therein, the method comprising: treating the water with powdered activated carbon and adsorbing organic material contained in the water onto the powdered activated carbon to reduce the concentration of organic material in the water; adding a first desorbing reagent to the water and desorbing organic material from the powdered activated carbon to at least partially regenerate the powdered activated carbon and produce a first aqueous stream containing the desorbed organic material and the at least partially regenerated powered activated carbon; separating some of the desorbed organic material from the first aqueous stream to produce a second aqueous stream containing an additional amount of the desorbed organic material and the at least partially regenerated powdered activated carbon; neutralizing the second aqueous stream; and separating the at least partially regenerated powdered activated carbon from the second aqueous stream containing the additional amount of the desorbed organic material to produce a third aqueous stream containing the at least partially regenerated powdered activated carbon.