Water and Environment Journal, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Taste and odour compounds (T&O), particularly 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB) and geosmin, pose persistent challenges in drinking water treatment, as conventional methods often achieve limited removal. This study provides a comparative evaluation of five treatment strategies: activated carbon (AC) adsorption, sulfonic acid-modified activated carbon (SAC) adsorption, peroxone oxidation and integrated applications (AC + peroxone; SAC + peroxone). Source water collected from the Altınapa Reservoir, Türkiye, contained 11.61 ng/L 2-MIB and 11.96 ng/L geosmin. AC achieved removals of 78% (2-MIB) and 68% (geosmin) at 8 mg/L, whereas AC + peroxone achieved comparable efficiencies (76% and 79%) at lower AC doses (1–4 mg/L) combined with 0.1 mg/L peroxone. SAC exhibited adsorption capacity, and SAC + peroxone achieved the highest overall efficiency, particularly for T&O compound reduction. These findings demonstrate that integration of adsorptive and oxidative processes does not necessarily result in synergistic performance and should be evaluated under specific water quality and operational conditions.