Advanced Drinking Water Treatment Research Articles

Predominance of ammonia-oxidizing archaea on granular activated carbon used in a full-scale advanced drinking water treatment plant

Ozonation followed by granular activated carbon (GAC) is one of the advanced drinking water treatments. During GAC treatment, ammonia can be oxidized by ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms associated with GAC. However, there is little information on the abundance and diversity of ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms on GAC. In this study, the nitrification activity of GAC and the settlement of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) in GAC were monitored at a new full-scale advanced drinking water treatment plant in Japan for 1 year after plant start-up. Prechlorination was implemented at the receiving well for the first 10 months of operation to treat ammonia in raw water. During this prechlorination period, levels of both AOA and AOB associated with GAC were below the quantification limit. After prechlorination was stopped, 10 5 copies g-dry −1 of AOA amoA genes were detected within 3 weeks and the quantities ultimately reached 10 6–10 7 copies g-dry −1, while levels of AOB amoA genes still remained below the quantification limit. This observation indicates that AOA can settle in GAC rapidly without prechlorination. The nitrification activity of GAC increased concurrently with the settlement of AOA after prechlorination was stopped. Estimation of in situ cell-specific ammonia-oxidation activity for AOA on the assumption that only AOA and AOB determined can contribute to nitrification suggests that AOA may account for most of the ammonia-oxidation. However, further validation on AOB contribution is required.

Attenuation of total organic carbon and unregulated trace organic chemicals in U.S. riverbank filtration systems

There is increasing concern regarding the presence of unregulated trace organic chemicals in drinking water supplies that receive discharge from municipal wastewater treatment plants. In comparison to conventional and advanced drinking water treatment, riverbank filtration represents a low-cost and low-energy alternative that can attenuate total organic carbon (TOC) as well as trace organic chemicals (TOrC). This study examined the role of predominant redox conditions, retention time, biodegradable organic carbon, and temperature to achieve attenuation of TOC and TOrC through monitoring efforts at three full-scale RBF facilities in different geographic areas of the United States. The RBF systems investigated in this study were able to act as a reliable barrier for TOC, nitrogen, and certain TOrC. Temperature (seasonal) variation played an important role for the make-up of the river water quality and performance of the RBF systems. Temperatures of less than 10 °C did not affect TOC removal but resulted in diminished attenuation of nitrate and select TOrC.

Organic micropollutant removal from wastewater effluent-impacted drinking water sources during bank filtration and artificial recharge

Natural treatment systems such as bank filtration (BF) and artificial recharge (via an infiltration basin) are a robust barrier for many organic micropollutants (OMPs) and may represent a low-cost alternative compared to advanced drinking water treatment systems. This study analyzes a comprehensive database of OMPs at BF and artificial recharge (AR) sites located near Lake Tegel in Berlin (Germany). The focus of the study was on the derivation of correlations between the removal efficiencies of OMPs and key factors influencing the performance of BF and AR. At the BF site, shallow monitoring wells located close to the Lake Tegel source exhibited oxic conditions followed by prolonged anoxic conditions in deep monitoring wells and a production well. At the AR site, oxic conditions prevailed from the recharge pond along monitoring wells to the production well. Long residence times of up to 4.5 months at the BF site reduced the temperature variation during soil passage between summer and winter. The temperature variations were greater at the AR site as a consequence of shorter residence times. Deep monitoring wells and the production well located at the BF site were under the influence of ambient groundwater and old bank filtrate (up to several years of age). Thus, it is important to account for mixing with native groundwater and other sources (e.g., old bank filtrate) when estimating the performance of BF with respect to removal of OMPs. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to investigate correlations between OMP removals and hydrogeochemical conditions with spatial and temporal parameters (e.g., well distance, residence time and depth) from both sites. Principal component-1 (PC1) embodied redox conditions (oxidation–reduction potential and dissolved oxygen), and principal component-2 (PC2) embodied degradation potential (e.g., total organic carbon and dissolved organic carbon) with the calcium carbonate dissolution potential (Ca 2+ and HCO 3 −) for the BF site. These two PCs explained a total variance of 55% at the BF site. At the AR site, PCA revealed redox conditions (PC1) and degradation potential with temperature (PC2) as principal components, which explained a total variance of 56%.

The unintended energy impacts of increased nitrate contamination from biofuels production

Increases in corn cultivation for biofuels production, due to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, are likely to lead to increases in nitrate concentrations in both surface and groundwater resources in the United States. These increases might trigger the requirement for additional energy consumption for water treatment to remove the nitrates. While these increasing concentrations of nitrate might pose a human health concern, most water resources were found to be within current maximum contaminant level (MCL) limits of 10 mg L(-1) NO(3)-N. When water resources exceed this MCL, energy-intensive drinking water treatment is required to reduce nitrate levels below 10 mg L(-1). Based on prior estimates of water supplies currently exceeding the nitrate MCL, we calculate that advanced drinking water treatment might require an additional 2360 million kWh annually (for nitrate affected areas only)--a 2100% increase in energy requirements for water treatment in those same areas--to mitigate nitrate contamination and meet the MCL requirement. We predict that projected increases in nitrate contamination in water may impact the energy consumed in the water treatment sector, because of the convergence of several related trends: (1) increasing cornstarch-based ethanol production, (2) increasing nutrient loading in surface water and groundwater resources as a consequence of increased corn-based ethanol production, (3) additional drinking water sources that exceed the MCL for nitrate, and (4) potentially more stringent drinking water standards for nitrate.

Disinfection characteristics of the dissolved organic fractions at several stages of a conventional drinking water treatment plant in Southern China

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) influences many aspects of drinking water treatment, including the formation of harmful disinfection by-products (DBPs) when disinfectants are applied. DOM was isolated and fractionated using membrane ultra-filtration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) to eight individual fractions based on molecular weight cut-offs from a conventional surface water treatment plant (WTP) in Guangzhou of PR China. Molecular weights of these eight fractions were further calibrated using high performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) and they ranged from 0.36 to 182.6 kDa. Fractions with molecular weight <0.80 kDa obtained by YC-05 UF membrane and RO were the major ones in all four stages of the water treatment processes; both ZM-500 and YM-100 membranes showed the highest removal efficiency when coupling with conventional coagulation and sedimentation processes. The elemental analysis showed that YC-05 fraction had greater polarity and aromaticity than any of the others. Furthermore, disinfection characteristics and trihalomethane formation potential (THMFP) were determined for all DOM fractions obtained in this study. YC-05 fraction was the major precursor for trihalomethane (THMs) formation among the samples tested and could be removed effectively by particulate activated carbon (PAC) adsorption. RO fraction could not be removed by PAC adsorption and, as a result, consumed more chlorine in the disinfection process. The results suggested that advanced drinking water treatment should focus on the removal of low molecular weight DOM in the source water.

Advanced water treatment of high turbid source by hybrid module of ceramic microfiltration and activated carbon adsorption: Effect of organic/inorganic materials

We investigated the effect of organic or inorganic materials on membrane fouling in advanced drinking water treatment by hybrid module packed with granular activated carbon (GAC) outside a tubular ceramic microfiltra- tion membrane. Instead of natural organic matters (NOM) and fine inorganic particles in the natural water source, syn- thetic water was prepared with humic acid and kaolin. Concentrations of kaolin or humic acid were changed to see effects of inorganic or organic matter. And periodic water-back-flushing using permeate water was performed during 10 sec per filtration of 10 min. As a result, both the resistance of membrane fouling (Rf) and permeate flux (J) were influenced higher by concentration of humic acid rather than kaolin. It was proved that NOM like humic acid could be a more important factor on membrane fouling in drinking water treatment than fine inorganic particles. Treatment efficiencies of turbidity and UV254 absorbance were very high above 97.4% and 92.0%, respectively.

Are endocrine disrupting compounds a health risk in drinking water?

There has been a great deal of international discussion on the nature and relevance of endocrine disrupting compounds in the environment. Changes in reproductive organs of fish and mollusks have been demonstrated in rivers downstream of sewage discharges in Europe and in North America, which have been attributed to estrogenic compounds in the effluent. The anatomical and physiological changes in the fauna are illustrated by feminization of male gonads. The compounds of greatest hormonal activity in sewage effluent are the natural estrogens 17Beta-estradiol, estrone, estriol and the synthetic estrogen ethinylestradiol. Androgens are also widely present in wastewaters. Investigations of anthropogenic chemical contaminants in freshwaters and wastewaters have shown a wide variety of organic compounds, many of which have low levels of estrogenic activity. In many highly populated countries the drinking water is sourced from the same rivers and lakes that are the recipients of sewage and industrial discharge. The River Thames which flows through London, England, has overall passed through drinking water and sewage discharge 5 times from source to mouth of the river. Under these types of circumstance, any accumulation of endocrine disrupting compounds from sewage or industry potentially affects the quality of drinking water. Neither basic wastewater treatment nor basic drinking water treatment will eliminate the estrogens, androgens or detergent breakdown products from water, due to the chemical stability of the structures. Hence a potential risk to health exists; however present data indicate that estrogenic contamination of drinking water is very unlikely to result in physiologically detectable effects in consumers. Pesticide, detergent and industrial contamination remain issues of concern. As a result of this concern, increased attention is being given to enhanced wastewater treatment in locations where the effluent is directly or indirectly in use for drinking water. In some places at which heavy anthropogenic contamination of drinking water sources occurs, advanced drinking water treatment is increasingly being implemented. This treatment employs particle removal, ozone oxidation of organic material and activated charcoal adsorption of the oxidation products. Such processes will remove industrial organic chemicals, pesticides, detergents, pharmaceutical products and hormones. Populations for which only basic wastewater and drinking water treatment are available remain vulnerable.

활성탄을 이용한 낙동강 상수원수의 수처리 효과

상수원수를 보다 효과적으로 처리함으로서 양질의 수돗물을 공급하기 위한 기초자료를 얻고자 낙동강 상수원수를 대상으로 활성탄처리에 의한 공탑체류시간 및 활성탄 여층 깊이에 따른 수처리 효율과 생물활성탄으로서의 이용 가능성을 조사한 결과는 다음과 같다. 공탑체류시간(EBCT)에 따른 수처리 효율은 EBCT가 증가 할수록 증가되었으나 운전시간이 경과함에 따라 활성탄 흡착능력은 감소되어 처리효율도 서서히 감소하였다 활성탄 여층 깊이에 따른 pH 변화는 활성탄 층 깊이에 따라 거의 없었으며, DO는 활성탄 층 깊이가 깊을수록 서서히 감소하였다. <TEX>$KMnO_4$</TEX> 소비량, UV254 흡광물질, DOC 및 THMFP 처리효율은 활성탄 표층으로부터 하부로 내려갈수록 증가하였으며, 운전시간이 경과할수록 활성탄 상층부에 형성되어 있던 흡착대가 하부로 이동하였다. DOC의 상당 부분이 활성탄여과지에 서식하는 미생물 작용에 의해 분해 제거되는 것으로 나타났으며, 운전개시 126일 후의 BAC에서 활성탄 표층으로 부터 깊이 20 cm부근에 미생물이 <TEX>$1.1\times10^7\;cell/cm^3$</TEX> 이상 존재하는 것으로 관찰되어 생물활성탄 조건을 만족시키고 있었다. This study was carried out to evaluate the pollutant removal efficiencies of the advanced drinking water treatment using activated carbon process. for raw water, Nakdong river was used. from the activated carbon adsorption experiment the fellowing results were obtained The efficiency of water treatment enhanced with increase in empty bed contact time. Variation of pH was not detected to the bed depth, but DO content gradually decreased with the bed depth. Removal efficiency of <TEX>$KMnO_4$</TEX> consumption, UV254 absorption, DOC and THMFP also were increased by increasing in the bed depth. Transition of adsorption zone from upper parts of the bed to the lower parts were detected as treatment periods increased. Large portion of DOCs were degraded and removed by the microbes growing on the surface of activated carbons. Cell numbers of microbes were estimated over <TEX>$1.1\times10^7\;cell/cm^3$</TEX> at the depth of 20 cm from the surface 126 days after starting operation. The results shown that the activated carbon Inter was successfully acted as a biofilm filter.

Advanced Drinking Water Treatment by a NF Membrane System

The nanofiltration (NF) membrane process, a newly developed technology for advanced drinking water treatment can remove salts, low molecular substances, bacteria, virus, amino acids and carbohydrate etc effectively under a low operating pressure. Generally speaking, a proper pretreatment prior to the NF process is required to meet certain feed water quality. In this study, a NF purification process consisting of gradular-filtration, GAC adsorption and nanojiltration was develop a to treat two tap waters in Hang Kong and Tianjin of China. The experimental results indicate that the developed NF treatment process can further eliminate turbidity, humic substances, THMs and residual chlorine effectively and also reject all pathogens. The NF product water can comply with the required criteria of bottled water and satisfy a higher drinking water standard proposed for the near future. References

A novel biofilm-membrane reactor for advanced drinking water treatment - pilot scale study

The authors have proposed a novel biofilm-membrane reactor (BMR) in which nitrifying biofilm is fixed on the surface of the rotating membrane disk. With this reactor, both strict solid-liquid separation and oxidation of ammonia nitrogen can be simultaneously performed. Based on the knowledge obtained in the previous experiments with the bench-scale equipment, a pilot scale study was conducted using river water at a water purification plant. The results obtained in the pilot study can be summarized as follows: (1) A pilot scale BMR worked successfully even with the water from an actual drinking water source. By implementation of pre-treatment (coagulation and sedimentation), the filter run could be continued for more than 8 months without any chemical washing. (2) The sponge cleaning developed in this study was found to be very effective. This indicates that the accumulated cake resistance is dominant in the practical situation. (3) Sufficient nitrification was observed when water temperature was high. (4) In addition to the nitrification, biological oxidation of AOC and manganese can be expected with the BMR. In this study, both AOC and manganese concentration in the permeate decreased to a level less than 10 μg/L.

Particle separation as a pretreatment of an advanced drinking water treatment process by ozonation and biological activated carbon

The role of particle separation on the performance of ozone-biological activated carbon (BAC) was evaluated based on the analyses of the fate of organic substances in the process. Pilot plant studies were carried out using eutrophic lake water as raw water. The ozonation not only converted refractory organic matter into biodegradable matter but also particulate organic carbon (POC) into dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Total decrease in adsorbable and non biodegradable DOC fraction (ADOC) after ozonation was only 16% of the influent into the biofiltration process followed by ozonation. However, the ozone-BAC process before membrane separation could reduce organic loading to membrane system. The smaller loading to microfiltration will result in long intervals of back washing and less frequent membrane fouling. Membrane separation before ozonation removed not only POC but also a part of DOC and could prevent dissolution of POC during ozonation. The decreases in ADOC by membrane and ozonation were 20% and 37% of the influent ADOC, respectively. The total decrease in ADOC for membrane process followed by ozonation was 57%. The separation of particulate matter will decrease loading of ADOC onto BAC significantly and, therefore, will extend service life of BAC.

Particle separation as a pretreatment of an advanced drinking water treatment process by ozonation and biological activated carbon

The role of particle separation on the performance of ozone-biological activated carbon (BAC) was evaluated based on the analyses of the fate of organic substances in the process. Pilot plant studies were carried out using eutrophic lake water as raw water. The ozonation not only converted refractory organic matter into biodegradable matter but also particulate organic carbon (POC) into dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Total decrease in adsorbable and non biodegradable DOC fraction (ADOC) after ozonation was only 16% of the influent into the biofiltration process followed by ozonation. However, the ozone-BAC process before membrane separation could reduce organic loading to membrane system. The smaller loading to microfiltration will result in long intervals of back washing and less frequent membrane fouling. Membrane separation before ozonation removed not only POC but also a part of DOC and could prevent dissolution of POC during ozonation. The decreases in ADOC by membrane and ozonation were 20% and 37% of the influent ADOC, respectively. The total decrease in ADOC for membrane process followed by ozonation was 57%. The separation of particulate matter will decrease loading of ADOC onto BAC significantly and, therefore, will extend service life of BAC.

Pilot plant study on ozonation and biological activated carbon process for drinking water treatment

A study on advanced drinking water treatment was conducted in a pilot scale plant taking raw water from Minaga Reservoir, Japan. Ozonation-biological activated carbon process (O3-BAC), BAC process (BAC) and chlorination-granular activated carbon adsorption process (Cl2-GAC) were evaluated based on the following parameters; dissolved organic carbon (DOC), adsorbable DOC (ADOC) and biodegradable DOC (BDOC). The raw water used was pre-treated by biofiltration for suspended solid removal and biological treatment. Contact time for ozonation and chlorination was 24 min. Empty bed contact time of activated carbon column was 15 min. Ozone dosage was 3 mg • 1−1. Chlorination was carried out to maintain a residual chlorine concentration of 0.2 mg • 1−1. Effluent DOC from biofiltration consisted of mainly ADOC (90%) and BDOC (10%). Therefore, DOC was mainly removed by adsorption in all processes. However, biodegradable DOC increased by 20% after ozonation in O3-BAC and was removed effectively by the attached bacteria on the activated carbon. Significant differences in DOC removal were not noted among the three processes during 8 months of operation. After the saturation of activated carbon, the effluent DOC from the O3-BAC was lower than that from BAC and Cl2-GAC. Ozonation improved biodegradability of organic substances and effluent water quality by the following biodegradation of biodegradable DOC by biological activated carbon.

Pilot plant study on ozonation and biological activated carbon process for drinking water treatment

A study on advanced drinking water treatment was conducted in a pilot scale plant taking raw water from Minaga Reservoir, Japan. Ozonation-biological activated carbon process (O3-BAC), BAC process (BAC) and chlorination-granular activated carbon adsorption process (Cl2-GAC) were evaluated based on the following parameters; dissolved organic carbon (DOC), adsorbable DOC (ADOC) and biodegradable DOC (BDOC). The raw water used was pre-treated by biofiltration for suspended solid removal and biological treatment. Contact time for ozonation and chlorination was 24 min. Empty bed contact time of activated carbon column was 15 min. Ozone dosage was 3 mg · 1-1. Chlorination was carried out to maintain a residual chlorine concentration of 0.2 mg · 1-1. Effluent DOC from biofltration consisted of mainly ADOC (90%) and BDOC (10%). Therefore, DOC was mainly removed by adsorption in all processes. However, biodegradable DOC increased by 20% after ozonation in 03-BAC and was removed effectively by the attached bacteria on the activated carbon. Significant differences in DOC removal were not noted among the three processes during 8 months of operation. After the saturation of activated carbon, the effluent DOC from the 03-BAC was lower than that from BAC and Cl2-GAC. Ozonation improved biodegradability of organic substances and effluent water quality by the following biodegradation of biodegradable DOC by biological activated carbon.