<div><p>This study provides mechanistic insights into the passivation of the packing particles during the treatment of acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) resin wastewater by the Fe<sup>0</sup>/GAC system. The granular-activated carbon (GAC) and iron chippings (Fe<sup>0</sup>) were mixed together with a volumetric ratio of 1:1. GAC has a mean particle size of approximately 3–5 mm, a specific surface of 748 m<sup>2</sup> g<sup>−1</sup>, a total pore volume of 0.48 mL g<sup>−1</sup> and a bulk density of 0.49 g cm<sup>−3</sup>. The iron chippings have a compact and non-porous surface morphology. The results show that the packing particles in the Fe<sup>0</sup>/GAC system would lose their activity because the removal of TOC and for ABS resin wastewater could not carried out by the Fe<sup>0</sup>/GAC system after 40 days continuous running. Meanwhile, the availability of O<sub>2</sub> and intrinsic reactivity of Fe<sup>0</sup> play a key role on the form of passive film with different iron oxidation states. The passive film on the surface of iron chippings was formed by two phases: (a) local corrosion phase (0–20 d) and (b) co-precipitation phase (20–40 d), while that of GAC was mainly formed by the co-precipitation of corrosion products with and because and would not easily reach the Fe<sup>0</sup> surface. Therefore, in order to avoid the occurrence of filler passivation, high concentrations of and in wastewater should be removed before the treatment process of the Fe/GAC system.</p></div
