Dissolved Organic Carbon Removal Efficiency Research Articles

Water residence time is an important predictor of dissolved organic matter composition and drinking water treatability

Freshwater ecosystems are critical resources for drinking water. In recent decades, dissolved organic matter (DOM) inputs into aquatic systems have increased significantly, particularly in central and northern Europe, due to climatic and anthropogenic drivers. The associated increase in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration can change lake ecosystem services and adversely affect drinking water treatment processes. In this study, we examined spatial and temporal patterns of DOM treatability with granular activated carbon (GAC) and biological reactivity based on 14-day bacterial respiration incubations at 11 sites across Mälaren during six-time points between July 2019 and February 2021. Mälaren is the third largest lake in Sweden and provides drinking water for over 2 million people including the capital city Stockholm. In our spatio-temporal analysis, we assessed the influence of phytoplankton abundance, water chemistry, runoff, and climate on DOM composition, GAC removal efficiency, and biological reactivity. Variations in DOM composition were characterized using optical measurements and Orbitrap mass spectrometry. Multivariate statistical analyses indicated that DOM produced during warmer months was easier to remove by GAC. Removal efficiency of GAC varied from 41 to 87 %, and the best predictor of treatability using mass spectrometry was double bond equivalents (DBE), while the best optical predictors were specific UV absorbance (SUVA), and freshness index. The oxygen consumption rate (k) from the bacterial respiration incubations ranged from 0.04 to 0.71 d−1 and higher in warmer months and at deeper basins and was associated with more aliphatic and fresh DOM. The three deepest lake basins with the longest water residence time (WRT) were temporally the most stable in terms of DOM composition and had the highest DOC removal efficiency and k rates. DOM composition in these three lake basins was optically clearer than in basins located closer to terrestrial inputs and had a signature suggesting it was derived from in-lake processes including phytoplankton production and bacterial processing of terrestrial DOM. This means that with increasing WRT, DOM derived from terrestrial sources shifts to more aquatically produced DOM and becomes easier to remove with GAC. These findings indicate WRT can be highly relevant in shaping DOM composition and thereby likely to affect its ease of treatability for drinking water purposes.

Performance of biological ion exchange resin and gravity-driven ceramic membrane hybrid process for surface water treatment

In this study, the performance of a biological ion exchange (BIEX) resin and gravity-driven ceramic membrane (GDCM) filtration hybrid process in terms of membrane permeate quality, flux, and membrane biofilm characteristics during river water treatment for drinking water was investigated. The hybrid process results were compared with those of the GDCM process without the BIEX pre-treatment. Three types of previously synthesized microfiltration membranes were used: M1 (100 wt% kaolin), M2 (75 wt% kaolin + 25 wt% alumina), M3 (50 wt% kaolin + 50 wt% alumina), and M4 (commercial ceramic microfiltration membrane). In terms of permeate quality, the BIEX column removed approximately 74 % of the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) compared with the influent water, followed by 27 % DOC removal using M3 compared with the BIEX column effluent on day 65 (6,240 BV), which was mainly due to the removal of humic and fulvic acids. BIEX removed turbidity of the influent water from 2.20 NTU to 0.77 NTU, which was further decreased to 0.09 NTU by membranes. The maximum stabilized flux of the membranes was approximately 5.7 LMH, which was almost doubled compared to GDCM without pre-treatment. The membrane biofilm showed lower thickness and roughness in the hybrid process than that in GDCM without pre-treatment. Higher extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) concentration and biological activity were observed for M3, the membrane with the highest stabilized flux and highest DOC removal efficiency. The results indicate that the hybrid BIEX + GDCM is a robust, high-performance, and easy-to-use process that can increase the flux and permeate quality of GDCM systems.

A comparison of micro-flocculation and ozonation as pretreatments for ultrafiltration: organic removal and membrane fouling.

Micro-flocculation and ozone were applied as pretreatments of ultrafiltration to treat sodium alginate (SA) and humic acid (HA) simulated water, respectively, to investigate the effects of different pretreatments of ultrafiltration (UF) on filtration flux and removal of organic matters. Regarding the SA simulated water, micro-flocculation helped to improve the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal efficiency highly, maximum DOC removal efficiency reached to 79.77%, due to the rejection of gel layer introduced by the alginate-aluminum complexes, but the gel layer had a negative impact on membrane flux. Compared with micro-flocculation, ozone as pretreatments had better ability to enhance the membrane specific flux, the maximum final specific flux remained as 0.786, larger than that of MF-UF process (0.574). Ozonation oxidizing SA into small organic molecules significantly reduced membrane fouling and filtration resistance, but also produced some dissolved organic matters hindering DOC removal of effluent. As for HA simulated water, both the micro-flocculation and ozone could effectively improve the specific flux, the final specific flux of MF-UF and ozone-UF were about 0.930, but MF-UF exhibited better DOC removal than ozone-UF, which avoided the introduction of additional dissolved organic matters.

Dissolved Organic Matter Fractions and Their Removal in Full-Scale Drinking Water Treatment Process

Objectives:The objective of this study is to investigate characteristics about removal of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and its fraction for improving operation efficiency in an advanced water treatment plant. Methods:The monitoring of water quality was conducted at five processes such as raw water, pre-oxidation, after sedimentation, post-ozonation, after biological activated carbon (BAC) from July 2020 to August 2021 in advanced water treatment process (AWTP) supplying 180,000m<sup>3</sup>/day. The concentration of DOC (dissolved organic carbon) and number of algae were monitored and LC-OCD was used to fractionate DOC to four species, biopolymer (BP), humic substance (HS), building blocks (BB), and low molecular weights (LMWs). Results and Discussion:The characteristics of raw water showed that the concentration of DOC and the number of algae increased with an increase in water temperature. The portion of BP and HS significantly increased at low and high water temperature, respectively, while BB and LMWs maintained the similar portion. The removal efficiency of DOC in the AWTP was achieved at 59% with each species of BP, HS, BB, and LMWs obtaining removal efficiency of 87%, 65%, 26%, and 52%, respectively. Coagulation/sedimentation/filtration showed removal efficiency of 84%, 56%, 20%, and 18% for BP, HS, BB, and LMWs, respectively, corresponding to their molecular weight. The effect of post-ozonation would be negligible except for BP. In BAC, removal efficiency of 49% and 12% were obtained for LMWs and BB (low molecular weight, respectively. As a result, the BP portion significantly decreased due to high removal efficiency, while BB portion was increased in the final treated water compared to raw water. Conclusion:Most of DOM was removed in coagulation/sedimentation/filtration and BAC, whereas oxidation process such as pre-chlorination, pre-ozonation and post-oxidation did not have an effect on DOM removal. In coagulation/sedimentation/filtration, 84% and 54% of the BP and HS were removed, while BAC removed 49% and 12% of LMWs and BB, respectively. It has been recommended to improve the removal efficiency of BB, which obtained the lowest removal efficiency in AWTP, and to enhance the removal efficiency of LMWs in BAC to inhibit microbial regrowth in the distribution system.

TİTANYUM DİOKSİT(TiO2) NANOPARTİKÜL MADDELERİN EVSEL ATIKSULAR ÜZERİNE UYGULANMASI: KİRLETİCİLERİN GİDERİMİ

Titanium is the ninth most abundant element in the earth's crust and is usually found in minerals such as rutile, ilmenite, and sphene. Adsorption, photocatalysis, and advanced oxidation processes are used in water and wastewater treatment. Among these processes, photocatalysis has emerged as a safe, efficient, and environmentally friendly treatment process for the treatment of wastewater with high pollutant content. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is widely used as a photocatalyst and adsorbent. Titanium dioxide nanoparticle material has been applied in various fields, including environmental water and wastewater treatment. In this study, treatment performance was investigated by using TiO2 nanoparticles for the removal of pollutants in domestic wastewater. System performance was evaluated in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and total nitrogen (TN). Different adsorbent concentrations (50-200 mg/L) and reaction times (15-90 min) were investigated at pH 7.2 to determine optimum conditions. Optimum adsorption concentration and reaction time were found to be 50 mg TiO2/L and 60 minutes, respectively. COD, DOC, and TN removal efficiencies were observed as 80%, 30%, and 35%, respectively. The obtained results showed that the removal efficiency of COD and DOC from domestic wastewater of TiO2 nanoparticles is high.

Development and application of a predictive model for advanced wastewater treatment by adsorption onto powdered activated carbon

This work presents a mathematical method to describe adsorptive removal of organic micropollutants (OMPs) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from wastewater treatment plant effluent using powdered activated carbon (PAC). The developed model is based on the tracer model (TRM) as a modification of the ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST) and uses the fictive component approach for organic matter fractionation. It enables the simulation of multisolute adsorption of OMPs considering competitive adsorption behavior of organic background compounds (OBC). Adsorption equilibrium data for DOC and seven different OMPs as well as kinetic data for DOC were derived from batch experiments performed with secondary clarifier effluent of two municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP 1 and WWTP 2). Two conventional PAC products were investigated as well as one biogenic PAC (BioPAC). Verification and validation of the fitting results based on operational data of WWTP 1 showed promising prediction of DOC and OMP removal efficiency. However, when applied to a static simulation of a full-scale PAC adsorption stage, the model overpredicts the removal efficiency of sulfamethoxazole and candesartan. For benzotriazole, carbamazepine or hydrochlorothiazide, predicted removal falls below operational removal. The model can be used to predict removals of good adsorbable OMPs but fails to accurately predict the removals of OMPs with variable or low PAC affinity. The model was further used for a dynamic simulation of DOC and diclofenac effluent concentrations of a full-scale PAC adsorption stage with varying operating conditions and influent concentrations. Results show that the hydraulic retention time (HRT) in the contact reactor is a decisive operational parameter for OMP removal efficiency besides the PAC dose.

Can we shape microbial communities to enhance biological activated carbon filter performance?

A new focus on biofiltration has emerged that aims to shape microbial communities to improve treatment efficacy. It is therefore necessary to understand the linkages between microbial community structure and biofilter function. However, the assembly and interaction of microbial communities in biological activated carbon (BAC) filters are unknown. In this study, we selected one coal-based granular activated carbon (GAC), GAC-13, with simultaneously developed micropore and micro-level macropore volume used for a bench-scale BAC column experiment, and compared it with other coal-based GACs and wood-based GAC in terms of the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal and microbial community characteristics. The results showed that there was no difference between the DOC removal efficiency of BAC-13 and the other two coal-based BAC filters with high iodine value in the period dominated by adsorption, while the DOC removal efficiency of BAC-13 (64.7±0.6%) was significantly higher than that of other BAC filters (36.3±0.8–54.1±0.4%) with a difference of 0.3–0.7 mg/L in DOC during the steady state. The bacterial communities were strongly assembled by deterministic rather than stochastic factors, where the surface polarity of GAC had a greater effect on the microbial communities than its physical properties. The corresponding co-occurrence network revealed that microbes in the BAC filter may be more cooperative than competitive. The keystone bacterium Hyphomicrobium, which had a relatively low abundance, contributed 0.3–1% more to the most abundant functions and produced 5–21 proteins/(g·GAC) more than the dominant bacterium Sphingobium. The metaproteomic-based approach could provide more accurate information regarding the contributions of different species to metabolic functions. The pore size distribution of GAC was found to be an important factor in determining BAC filter performance; the most important pore sizes were micropores and micro-level macropores (0.2–10 μm and >100 μm in diameter), and the latter impacted the abundance of keystone species. Overall, our findings provide new insights into shaping microbial communities by optimizing pore size structure to improve BAC performance, especially the abundance of keystone species.

Performance of biological activated carbon (BAC) filtration for the treatment of secondary effluent: A pilot-scale study

In addition to the adsorption capability for organic compounds, granular activated carbon (GAC) can also serve as a good media for the growth of microbial communities in biofilters. Despite its potential, the application of BAC filtration for municipal wastewater treatment has been little addressed in the literature. In this context, this paper aimed to investigate BAC filtration as a post-treatment of anaerobic effluent in pilot scale and its performance in removing organic matter and turbidity. Removal efficiencies during the biofilters run times and along biofilters depth were also evaluated. Three BAC filters were evaluated under different operating conditions of filtration rates (from 13 to 32 m d−1) and empty bed contact time (EBCT) (from 45 to 112 min) during 170 days. The lowest filtration rate (13 m d−1) presented the best performance in terms of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal (68.2 ± 4.0%), leading to mean DOC effluent concentration of 6.8 ± 0,9 mg L−1. The BAC reached the stability of biological activity from the 63rd day of operation, however, the adsorption process was still occurring contributing to DOC removal. These DOC removals were higher than those results reported in the literature for BAC filters treating drinking water and municipal wastewater. The DOC removal efficiencies were maintained during the filter run times, showing the robustness of the system even after the interference caused by the backwashing process. BAC filtration was also capable of removing turbidity, with removal efficiencies between 84.5 ± 3.6% and 70.63 ± 6.8% depending on the filtration rate. The results indicated the capability of BAC systems to remove efficiently organic carbon and turbidity from effluents with high organic content, mean of 23.97 (±3.96) mg.L−1, and also valuable support to determine adequate operating parameters for BAC filters application in secondary effluent treatment, such as filtration rate (13 m d−1), EBCT (112 min), and detailed backwashing procedures.

Enhanced complexation of humic acids: Homogenization of protonated groups in the hybrid ozonation-coagulation process

In this study, we compared dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and UV254 removal efficiencies of the hybrid ozonation-coagulation (HOC) and pre-ozonation-coagulation (POC) processes for humic acid (HA) at pH 5 with AlCl3•6H2O as the coagulant. The DOC and UV254 removal efficiencies of the HOC process were higher than those of the POC process at ozone dosages less than 2.0 mg O3 (mg DOC)−1. The ozone dosage was optimized at 0.3 and 0.1 mg O3 (mg DOC)−1 for the HOC and POC processes, respectively, implying a more rigorous ozone dosage for the POC process. During the POC process, pre-ozonation was observed to increase the binding sites of HA (e.g., hydroxyl and carboxyl groups), improving the complexation of dissolved organic matter. For the HOC process, in addition to its role in the oxidation of organic matter, ozone also reacted with coagulants. The reaction between ozone and coagulants can facilitate the formation of Al13. Moreover, the oxidation of •OH and ozone can increase the charge density of the HA binding sites, homogenizing the binding sites of HA and enhancing the complexation with Al13.

Dissolved organic carbon removal and CX3R-type byproduct formation during the peroxymonosulfate pre-oxidation followed by coagulation

Hydroxyl radicals (HO·) and sulfate radicals (SO4−) can be generated when ferric-based coagulants are coupled with the potential alternative pre-oxidant peroxymonosulfate (PMS). Although HO·, SO4− and PMS may oxidize most organic matter, they could also react with chloride stemming from chloride-containing coagulants, generating reactive chlorine species that may further react with organic matter to produce unwanted byproducts. CX3R-type [X = H or Cl, R = H, CN, C(OH)2 or CONH2] byproducts have cytotoxicity and genotoxicity. Therefore, the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal and CX3R-type byproduct formation during the PMS pre-oxidation followed by coagulation (PPFC) (ferric sulfate [Fe2(SO4)3], ferric chloride (FeCl3), aluminium sulfate [Al2(SO4)3] or aluminium chloride (AlCl3)) were investigated. Results showed that PPFC could remove DOC higher compared to PMS pre-oxidation or coagulation alone. The DOC removal efficiency followed the order of Fe2(SO4)3 > FeCl3 > Al2(SO4)3 > AlCl3 during the PPFC. During the PPFC, FeCl3 and AlCl3 resulted in the formation of CX3R-type byproduct that posed significant calculated toxicity induction, while Fe2(SO4)3 and Al2(SO4)3 did not. Compared to AlCl3, FeCl3 resulted in higher CX3R-type byproduct concentration and finished water toxicity, which both decreased as the pre-oxidation duration extended, and increased as the PMS concentration increased. The CX3R-type byproduct formation and finished water toxicity increased and then decreased as both sedimentation time and coagulant dosage increased. Compared to PMS and SO4−, HO· played a more significant role in the formation of CX3R-type byproduct and induction of toxicity of finished water during the PPFC (FeCl3). Therefore, Fe2(SO4)3 was the more suitable coagulant when PMS was used as the pre-oxidant.

The application of UV/O3 process on ciprofloxacin wastewater containing high salinity: Performance and its degradation mechanism

The increasing discharge of high-salinity organic wastewater has drawn much concern. This work investigated the degradation and mineralization of ciprofloxacin (CIP) in high-salinity wastewater by ozonation coupled with ultraviolet irradiation (UV). After coupling with UV, the removal efficiency of CIP was increased insignificantly (maximum 5.0%), while the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal in CIP wastewater (CW) was enhanced dramatically to 91.4% as compared with independent O3 (37.5%). The reactive oxygen species (ROS) were identified as singlet oxygen (1O2) and superoxide anion radical (O2−•)·through electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and quenching experiments, among which 1O2 predominated in the UV/O3 process. The existence of salt (Na2SO4 or NaCl) accelerated the mass transfer of O3 at the gas-liquid interface, thus CIP removal was promoted in UV/O3/SO42− system. However, excessive Cl− inhibited the removal efficiency of DOC in CW owing to its consumption of O3. CIP degradation decreased as pH increased in non-salinity and UV/O3/SO42− system, which proved the direct reaction occurred between CIP and O3. On the contrary, the O3 mass transfer increased with increasing pH, hence the elimination of DOC in CW was promoted in UV/O3/Cl− system. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were detected from tail gas, but the toxicity estimation indicated the toxicity of products was similar or less than that of CIP. Overall, this work is meaningful for the practical application of UV/O3 process in the high-salinity industry.

The role of beneficial microorganisms in an anoxic-oxic (AO) process for treatment of ammonium-rich landfill leachates: Nitrogen removal and excess sludge reduction

This study comprehensively investigated the performances of the anoxic-oxic processes with (AO-M) and without the beneficial microorganisms (AO-N) for the treatment of the ammonium-rich landfill leachates. Although the AO-M had the lower concentrations of the mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS, 3230 mg L−1) and mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS, 2480 mg L−1) compared to the AO-N process (MLSS = 7790 mg L−1; MLVSS = 5260 mg L−1), dissolved organic compounds and nitrogen species could be more effectively removed using the AO-M process (removal efficiency of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) = 99.0%; removal efficiency of total nitrogen (TN) = 79.2%) than the AO-N process (removal efficiency of DOC = 98.6%; removal efficiency of TN = 75.1%). Moreover, the excess sludge production was also less pronounced for the AO-M process than the AO-N process since the enhanced endogenous respiration and relative enzyme activity of microorganisms in the oxic bioreactor of the AO-M process via the inoculation of the beneficial microorganisms reduced the excess sludge production significantly. These observations suggest that the variations in the relative abundances of microorganisms through the inoculation of the beneficial microorganisms into the sludge digestion tank might enhance the removal of nitrogen species and the reduction of the excess sludge production during the during the treatment of the ammonium-rich landfill leachates.

Removal efficiency of dissolved organic matter from secondary effluent by coagulation-flocculation processes

Wastewater reuse has been widely discussed as an essential strategy to minimize the consumption of drinking water for less noble purposes. During biological wastewater treatment, organic matter is converted into a complex matrix containing a variety of soluble organic compounds. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the removal efficiency of the residual organic load in the final effluent from wastewater treatment plant with a conventional activated sludge process by different coagulants and parameters of coagulation-flocculation process, using dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration, molecular weight (MW) size distribution by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS), and zeta potential (ZP) analyses. The results showed a DOC removal efficiency up to 45% with iron chloride, and of 38% for aluminum sulfate and 31% for PAC coagulants. ZP was also measured during the procedures and authors conclude that the ZP also does not have a determining role in these removals. SEC and MS assessment was able to detect changes on secondary effluent molecular weight distribution profile after effluent coagulation-flocculation, this technique might be a promising tool to understand the composition of effluent organic matter and be helpful to estimate and optimize the performance of wastewater effluents treatment processes.

Performance of a lab-scale membrane aerated biofilm reactor treating nitrogen dominant space-based wastewater through simultaneous nitrification-denitrification

A membrane-aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) was designed for the treatment of a source-separated urine wastewater formulated to mimic conditions on an early planetary space habitation. Literature suggested that a MABR would not work effectively for nitrogen removal for this wastewater since it is nitrogen dominant (total organic carbon to nitrogen ratio < 1). The MABR studied in this study confirmed that hypothesis by recording average nitrification and denitrification efficiencies as high as ∼65 % and ∼35 %, respectively. Nonetheless, the simultaneous nitrification and denitrification performance was unexpectedly high when compared to the reactor’s low liquid velocities (0.004 cm/s) and it’s relatively high bulk dissolved oxygen (DO) levels (> 2 mg/L). Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal and nitrification rates were reported as high as 0.33 ± 0.12 g-C/m2-d and 0.32 ± 0.02 g-N/m2-d, respectively. Additionally, the MABR achieved total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency of 36.5 %. Additionally, the operational parameters of hydraulic retention time, intramembrane partial oxygen pressure, recycle ratio and liquid velocity linked with bulk DO concentration were evaluated. It was observed that TN removal was significantly impacted by the variation of those parameters, but DOC removal efficiency and nitrification rate did not change significantly. This study helps to establish the efficacy of MABR systems for the treatment of nitrogen dominant, space-based wastewater.

Removal Characteristics of Effluent Organic Matter (EfOM) in Pharmaceutical Tailwater by a Combined Coagulation and UV/O3 Process

A novel coagulation combined with UV/O3 process was employed to remove the effluent organic matter (EfOM) from a biotreated pharmaceutical wastewater for harmlessness. The removal behavior of EfOM by UV/O3 process was characterized by synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy (SFS) integrating two-dimensional correlation (2D-COS) and principal component analysis (PCA) technology. The highest dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and ratio of UV254 and DOC (SUVA) removal efficiency reached 55.8% and 68.7% by coagulation-UV/O3 process after 60 min oxidation, respectively. Five main components of pharmaceutical tail wastewater (PTW) were identified by SFS. Spectral analysis revealed that UV/O3 was selective for the removal of different fluorescent components, especially fulvic acid-like fluorescent (FLF) component and humus-like fluorescent (HLF) component. Synchronous fluorescence/UV-visible two-dimensional correlation spectra analysis showed that the degradation of organic matter occurred sequentially in the order of HLF, FLF, microbial humus-like fluorescence component (MHLF), tryptophan-like fluorescent component (TRLF), tyrosine-like fluorescent component (TYLF). The UV/O3 process removed 95.6% of HLF, 80.0% of FLF, 56.0% of TRLF, 50.8% of MHLF and 44.4% of TYLF. Therefore, the coagulation-UV/O3 process was proven to be an attractive way to reduce the environmental risks of PTW.

Degradation of 3,5-dichlorophenol by UV-C photolysis and UV-C-activated persulfate oxidation process in pure water and simulated tertiary treated urban wastewater

ABSTRACT UV-C and UV-C/peroxydisulfate (PS) treatments of 3,5-dichlorophenol (3,5-DCP), a model industrial pollutant, were comparatively investigated in two different water matrices namely distilled water (DW) and simulated treated urban wastewater (SWW). The treatment performance of the selected treatment processes was comprehensively examined by following changes in 3,5-DCP, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), PS consumption, Cl− release, aromatic/aliphatic degradation products and acute toxicities towards the marine photobacterium Vibrio fischeri and freshwater microalga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata. The treatability of 2 mg/L (12.3 µM) 3,5-DCP in DW was investigated under different operating conditions such as initial PS concentrations (0.00–1.00 mM) and pH values (3–11) at a fixed light intensity (0.5 W/L). Increasing the pH and PS concentration exhibited positive effects on 3,5-DCP degradation. Even 10 mg/L 3,5-DCP was completely degraded with UV-C/PS treatment in 40 min in the presence of 0.03 mM PS at pH 6.3 accompanied with 95% DOC removal that was achieved after 120 min treatment. The second-order rate constant of 3,5-DCP (10 mg/L) with was determined as 1.77×109 M−1s−1 using competition kinetics. Cl− release and formation of hydroquinone were evidences of 3,5-DCP degradation involving . 3,5-DCP (2 mg/L) was also subjected to UV-C and UV-C/PS treatments in SWW. 3,5-DCP (100% after 60 min) and in particular DOC (26% after 120 min treatment) removal efficiencies observed in DW decreased dramatically in SWW. The original and UV-C/PS-treated samples were non-toxic towards Vibrio fischeri; however, Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata toxicity increased from 20% to 47% through 80 min UV-C/PS treatment of 3,5-DCP.

Role of inorganic anions on the performance of landfill leachate treatment by electrochemical oxidation using graphite/PbO2 electrode

The influences of sulfate, chloride, nitrate, and bicarbonate ions on the electrochemical treatment performances of landfill leachate have been investigated. The concentrations of SO42−, Cl−, NO3− ions, and bicarbonate alkalinity of landfill leachate were 252 mg L-1, 1244 ± 22.3 mg L-1, 12 mg L-1, and 1750 ± 40.8 mg L-1 as CaCO3 without any external salt addition. The concentrations of anions were analyzed after 2 h of electrochemical oxidation to understand any conversion of externally added anions. Chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and ammonia-nitrogen removal efficiencies after 2 h of electrolysis were 35.1 ± 2.3 %, 25.6 ± 2.9 %, and 97.6 ± 0.7 % respectively. Although no effect was observed for COD and DOC removal, increasing sulfate ion adversely affected NH3-N removal efficiency; the removal percentage decreased to 87.7 ± 0.5 % for 6082 mg L-1 of SO42− containing leachate. Addition of chloride improved the overall system performance. Obtained COD and DOC removal efficiencies were 67.2 ± 1.5 % and 55.8 ± 2.1 % for Cl− concentration of 4361 mg L-1 in leachate. Very low NH3-N removal (60 ± 2.1 %) for 1483 mg L-1 of nitrate containing leachate was obtained in this study due to the regeneration of ammonia by cathodic reduction of nitrate. Nitrate formation was observed as part of reactions for ammonia removal; for instance, the nitrate concentration increased from 12 mg L-1 to 39.3 ± 4 mg L-1 after electrolysis. For the leachate treatment containing 6000 mg L-1 of externally added HCO3−, the COD and DOC removal efficiencies decreased to 19.6 ± 0.6 % and 17.8 ± 1.1 %, but the more adverse effect was observed for NH3-N removal efficiency which was only 7.4 ± 1.8 %.

Drinking-Water Supply for CKDu Affected Areas of Sri Lanka, Using Nanofiltration Membrane Technology: From Laboratory to Practice

Installation of decentralized water-treatment plants is an ideal option to supply safe drinking water for rural communities. Presently in Sri Lanka, over 3.6 million villagers face acute water-quality problems, and chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) is also prevalent among this community. Most of the drinking water in these villages is unpalatable due to high hardness and salinity. As an interim measure, reverse-osmosis (RO) water-treatment plants are introduced to provide safe water. However, due to deficient electrolytes, RO-treated water tastes unpleasant to some consumers; hence, people refuse it after prolonged use. The operation, maintenance, and management of RO plants are other major problems. Aimed at providing safe drinking water to the rural sector in a cost-effective manner, in this study, we fabricated an automated drinking-water purification system based on nanofiltration (NF) membrane technology, which can remove divalent cations, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and pathogens efficiently, and monovalent ions partially, and thus keep electrolytes to some degree. Ten commercial NF membranes were tested in a laboratory, for solute and DOC removal efficiency and robustness. The DF-90 membrane showed the highest removal of DOC and hardness, and it was therefore selected, to design a pilot NF drinking-water treatment plant. The adhered DOC by the membrane can be cleaned by NaOH solution (pH = 12). The pilot NF drinking-water treatment plant has been in use since September 2018, and it shows excellent performance of removing DOC, TDS, hardness, fluoride, and pathogens in groundwater, and the permeate water of the NF plant has been well-accepted by the stakeholders of the society. The dominant genus of source water, and throughout the two processes (NF and RO), is Pseudomonas, and their difference is significant in the concentrates of the NF and RO processes.

Quantification of microbial degradation activities in biological activated carbon filters by reverse stable isotope labelling

Biological activated carbon (BAC) filters are frequently used in drinking water production for removing dissolved organic carbon (DOC) via adsorption of organic compounds and microbial degradation. However, proper methods are still missing to distinguish the two processes. Here, we introduce reverse stable isotope labelling (RIL) for assessing microbial activity in BAC filters. We incubated BAC samples from three different BAC filters (two granular activated carbon- and one extruded activated carbon-based) in a buffer amended with 13C-labelled bicarbonate. By monitoring the release of 12C–CO2 from the mineralization of DOC, we could demonstrate the successful application of RIL in analysing microbial DOC degradation during drinking water treatment. Changing the water flow rates through BAC filters did not alter the microbial activities, even though apparent DOC removal efficiencies changed accordingly. Microbial DOC degradation activities quickly recovered from backwashing which was applied for removing particulate impurities and preventing clogging. The size distributions of activated carbon particles led to vertical stratification of microbial activities along the filter beds. Our results demonstrate that reverse isotope labelling is well suited to measure microbial DOC degradation on activated carbon particles, which provides a basis for improving operation and design of BAC filters.

Are pharmaceuticals removal and membrane fouling in electromembrane bioreactor affected by current density?

Pharmaceutical active compounds (PhACs) have been detected at significant concentrations in various natural and artificial aquatic environments. In this study, electro membrane bioreactor (eMBR) technology was used to treat simulated municipal wastewater containing widely-used pharmaceuticals namely amoxicillin (AMX), diclofenac (DCF) and carbamazepine (CBZ). The effects of varying current density on the removal of PhACs (AMX, DCF and CBZ) and conventional pollutants (chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), humic substances, ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N) and orthophosphate (PO4-P) species) were examined. High COD and DOC removal efficiencies (~100%) were obtained in all the experimental runs regardless of applied current density. In contrast, enhanced removal efficiencies for AMX, DCF and CBZ were achieved at high current densities. Membrane fouling rate in eMBR with respect to conventional MBR was reduced by 24, 44 and 45% at current densities of 0.3, 0.5 and 1.15 mA/cm2, respectively. The mechanism for pharmaceutical removal in this study proceeded by: (1) charge neutralization between negatively-charged pharmaceutical compounds and positive electro-generated aluminium coagulants to form larger particles and (2) size exclusion by membrane filtration.