Abstract
Due to climate change, population growth, industrialization, urbanization, and water contamination, it is becoming more difficult to secure and supply clean and safe drinking water. One of the challenges many water utilities often face is the taste and odor (T&O) problem in drinking water treatment plants, mostly associated with geosmin and 2-MIB. These representative T&O compounds are mainly produced by the metabolism of blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), especially in summer. In this study, the correlation between algae blooms and T&O compounds was identified in the intake and raw water of a large-scale water treatment plant in the Republic of Korea. The removal efficiency of geosmin and 2-MIB by each treatment process was intensively evaluated. According to the obtained results, ozonation and granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption were more effective for removing the troublesome compounds compared to other water treatment processes, such as coagulation/flocculation, filtration, and chlorination. Because of their seasonal concentration variation and different removal rates, optimal operation methods need to be developed and implemented for drinking water treatment plants to solve the T&O problems.
Highlights
Water utilities often encounter taste and odor (T&O) problems associated with geosmin and 2-MIB (2-methylisoborneol), which has been identified as a major taste and odor-causing compound in drinking water produced from surface water [1,2,3,4]
These T&O compounds are naturally produced during the activities of many aquatic microorganisms, mainly the metabolism of the cyanobacteria known by several different names, including “blue-green algae,” “blue-greens,” and “Cyanophyta.”
When raw water has a large amount of natural organic matter (NOM) derived from the decay of plants and animals, the powdered activated carbon (PAC) removal capacity of the T&O compounds can be reduced. This is because NOMs compete with the T&O compounds for the adsorption sites in the activated carbon [3,11,15]
Summary
Water utilities often encounter taste and odor (T&O) problems associated with geosmin (trans-1, 10-dimethyl-trans-9-decalol) and 2-MIB (2-methylisoborneol), which has been identified as a major taste and odor-causing compound in drinking water produced from surface water [1,2,3,4] These T&O compounds are naturally produced during the activities of many aquatic microorganisms, mainly the metabolism of the cyanobacteria known by several different names, including “blue-green algae,” “blue-greens,” and “Cyanophyta.”. When raw water has a large amount of natural organic matter (NOM) derived from the decay of plants and animals, the PAC removal capacity of the T&O compounds can be reduced This is because NOMs compete with the T&O compounds for the adsorption sites in the activated carbon [3,11,15]. Besides the T&O compounds, other water qualities, such as turbidity, suspended solids, total dissolved solids, and KMnO4 consumption, were monitored and analyzed
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