Efficient removal of natural organic matter from drinking water for reducing disinfection by-products ...

• Main Author: Tafvizi, Hoda
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 2022
• Subjects: Canada; Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48336/3jnx-hj71; https://research.library.mun.ca/15868/

Chlorine as a low-cost bactericide has been used for more than a century for the disinfection of drinking water. However, the contact between chlorine-based disinfectants and natural organic matter (NOM) leads to the production of hazardous disinfection by-products (DBPs). Trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) as two groups of regulated DBPs by U.S. EPA and Health Canada have been of concern in the last two decades for the water treatment facilities around the world, specifically small communities of Newfoundland. Enhanced coagulation (EC) and adsorption with activated carbon (AC) are two recommended methods by U.S. EPA for the removal of NOM. Although many studies have tested these methods in full scale and lab scale for the removal of dissolved organic carbon as the main precursor of THMs and HAAs, certain environmental factors in NL (e.g., seasonal variations) and treatment factors (i.e., fast mixing and settling time in EC, and aluminum coating in AC) have not been considered so far. This ...