Understanding the Behaviour of Molecular Weight Fractions of Natural Organic Matter to Improve Water Treatment Processes

Water utilities have experienced increasing pressure to minimise the formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs), as reflected in the increasingly stringent regulations and guidelines for the concentrations of DBPs in drinking water. Understanding the disinfection characteristics and molecular weig...

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Main Authors: Kristiana, Ina, Allpike, Bradley, Joll, Cynthia, Heitz, Anna, Trolio, R.
Format: Journal Article
Published: IWA Publishing 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7912
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author Kristiana, Ina
Allpike, Bradley
Joll, Cynthia
Heitz, Anna
Trolio, R.
author_facet Kristiana, Ina
Allpike, Bradley
Joll, Cynthia
Heitz, Anna
Trolio, R.
author_sort Kristiana, Ina
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Water utilities have experienced increasing pressure to minimise the formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs), as reflected in the increasingly stringent regulations and guidelines for the concentrations of DBPs in drinking water. Understanding the disinfection characteristics and molecular weight (MW) distribution of natural organic matter (NOM) will assist in the optimisation of drinking water treatment processes to minimise the formation of DBPs. This study investigated the disinfection behaviour of MW fractions of NOM isolated from a Western Australian source water. The NOM was fractionated and separated using preparative size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and the fractions were chlorinated in the presence of bromide ion. The larger MW fractions of NOM were found to produce the highest concentrations of DBPs (trihalomethanes, haloacetic acids, haloacetonitriles, haloketones, and haloaldehydes), with the low MW fractions still producing significant amounts of these DBPs. The results also showed a trend of an increasing proportion of brominated DBPs with decreasing MW and aromatic character. Considering that the smaller MW fractions of NOM produce significant amounts of DBPs, with a higher relative contribution from brominated DBPs, water treatment processes need to be optimised for either bromide removal or the removal of aliphatic, small MW fractions of NOM, in order to meet DBP guidelines and regulations.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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publishDate 2010
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-79122017-09-13T16:02:17Z Understanding the Behaviour of Molecular Weight Fractions of Natural Organic Matter to Improve Water Treatment Processes Kristiana, Ina Allpike, Bradley Joll, Cynthia Heitz, Anna Trolio, R. molecular weight water treatment trihalomethanes disinfection by-products size exclusion - chromatography natural organic matter Water utilities have experienced increasing pressure to minimise the formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs), as reflected in the increasingly stringent regulations and guidelines for the concentrations of DBPs in drinking water. Understanding the disinfection characteristics and molecular weight (MW) distribution of natural organic matter (NOM) will assist in the optimisation of drinking water treatment processes to minimise the formation of DBPs. This study investigated the disinfection behaviour of MW fractions of NOM isolated from a Western Australian source water. The NOM was fractionated and separated using preparative size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and the fractions were chlorinated in the presence of bromide ion. The larger MW fractions of NOM were found to produce the highest concentrations of DBPs (trihalomethanes, haloacetic acids, haloacetonitriles, haloketones, and haloaldehydes), with the low MW fractions still producing significant amounts of these DBPs. The results also showed a trend of an increasing proportion of brominated DBPs with decreasing MW and aromatic character. Considering that the smaller MW fractions of NOM produce significant amounts of DBPs, with a higher relative contribution from brominated DBPs, water treatment processes need to be optimised for either bromide removal or the removal of aliphatic, small MW fractions of NOM, in order to meet DBP guidelines and regulations. 2010 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7912 10.2166/ws.2010.788 IWA Publishing fulltext
spellingShingle molecular weight
water treatment
trihalomethanes
disinfection by-products
size exclusion - chromatography
natural organic matter
Kristiana, Ina
Allpike, Bradley
Joll, Cynthia
Heitz, Anna
Trolio, R.
Understanding the Behaviour of Molecular Weight Fractions of Natural Organic Matter to Improve Water Treatment Processes
title Understanding the Behaviour of Molecular Weight Fractions of Natural Organic Matter to Improve Water Treatment Processes
title_full Understanding the Behaviour of Molecular Weight Fractions of Natural Organic Matter to Improve Water Treatment Processes
title_fullStr Understanding the Behaviour of Molecular Weight Fractions of Natural Organic Matter to Improve Water Treatment Processes
title_full_unstemmed Understanding the Behaviour of Molecular Weight Fractions of Natural Organic Matter to Improve Water Treatment Processes
title_short Understanding the Behaviour of Molecular Weight Fractions of Natural Organic Matter to Improve Water Treatment Processes
title_sort understanding the behaviour of molecular weight fractions of natural organic matter to improve water treatment processes
topic molecular weight
water treatment
trihalomethanes
disinfection by-products
size exclusion - chromatography
natural organic matter
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7912