Impact on Disinfection Byproducts Using Advanced Oxidation Processes for Drinking Water Treatment

Abstract

Since the inception of drinking water treatment systems, ensuring the production of microbiologically safe drinking water has been a primary objective. While chemical oxidants are often successfully employed to mitigate microbial risks, the chemical reactions that occur between oxidants and the dissolved or particulate constituents present in source waters, e.g., natural organic matter (NOM), can produce byproducts associated with unintended health consequences. These disinfection byproducts (DBPs) are potentially carcinogenic, mutagenic, genotoxic, and/or teratogenic. Since the discovery of DBPs in the early 1970s, considerable effort has been afforded to develop regulations or guidelines striving to simultaneously control microbial pathogens and DBPs. As advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) gain traction as an integral part of advanced treatment trains in water, wastewater, and water reuse scenarios, their impact on DBPs, in terms of both formation and destruction, is an increasingly important consideration and is the focus of this chapter. This chapter begins with a brief overview of major drinking water disinfection processes, followed by an introduction to common classes of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) and their precursors, and concludes with discussion of the influence of AOPs on DBP formation, formation potential, and removal.