GAC Contactor Sizing Calculator
For granular carbon, the EBCT is the parameter that sets the bed, and the range of sensible values is very wide — the same carbon at the same contact time treats two contaminants completely differently, because their adsorption kinetics differ. So there is no default EBCT here. You bring the contact time you selected against your contaminant and your carbon, and the bed volume, the media mass and the shell follow from it.
Design parameters
The contact time and the carbon bulk density are required. The bulk density is a supplier figure and it is what turns a volume into the mass that goes on the order.
Basis and limits
- EBCT is the bulk bed volume over the flow, so the bed volume here is the volume the media and its voids occupy together. A void fraction describes how that one volume is split; it does not enlarge the vessel.
- Breakthrough and contaminant removal are not predicted. They depend on the contaminant, the carbon, the competing background organics, the influent pH and the contact time — establish them from a breakthrough curve or pilot work for your case.
- The backwash rate is not derived either. It comes from the supplier, and it is what sets the backwash pump, the water and the drain.
- A carbon contactor can promote bacterial growth in the treated water. That risk belongs to the design and the downstream disinfection, not to the bed volume.
Workspace
Continue where you left off
Saved calculations in this browser can be reopened with their inputs intact.
No saved calculations yet
Use the Save Result button above and your calculation will appear here for quick reload, ready to be attached to a project or included in a report.