• • O3-MNBs pre-oxidation achieved >97.5% removal of 2-MIB and GSM at 400 ng·L−1 within 30 min, and 67.2% algal cell removal, enabling compliance with the 10 ng·L−1 regulatory limit.
• • When used as a deep treatment stage, O3-MNBs oxidation rate constants (k) were 10.1%–25.6% higher than in pre-oxidation, due to reduced background organic matter competition, maximizing degradation efficiency.
• • PAC adsorption of GSM showed ~20.0% higher equilibrium capacity than 2-MIB, but raw water NOM reduced adsorption capacity by 6.0%–10.0%, necessitating dose optimization to ensure 2-MIB removal.
• • Both oxidation and adsorption processes were accurately described by pseudo-first-order (R²>0.95) and pseudo-second-order (R²>0.99) kinetics, respectively, enabling model-driven prediction of oxidation time and PAC dosage for cost-effective operation.