Treatment of Organic Compounds in Reclaimed Wastewater for Groundwater Recharge

To study water quality problems associated with groundwater recharge, a tertiary treatment process, consisting of coagulation, sand filtration, and granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption, was used in combination with a simulated soil aquifer treatment. The process significantly improved secondary effluent quality. GAC adsorption reduced organic substances expressed by UV-254, dissolved organic car-bon as well as partially adsorbable organic halogens. The results of the Ames test show that the secondary effluent contains a high concentration of mutagens. GAC filtration removed adsorbable organic bromine slightly whereas GAC adsorption removed mutagens effectively. The simulated soil aquifer treatment was able to further reduce UV-254, dissolved organic carbon, and adsorbable organic halogens through biodeg-radation. Adsorbable organic bromine levels were also reduced by the soil aquifer treatment process. The given reclamation technology used for groundwater recharge is of benefit to the removal of dissolved or-ganic carbon, UV-254, adsorbable organic halogens, and mutagenicity.

Total organic halogen(TOX) in human urine: A halogen-specific method for human exposure studies

Disinfection by-products（DBPs） are a complex mixture of compounds unintentionally formed as a result of disinfection processes used to treat drinking water. Effects of long-term exposure to DBPs are mostly unknown and were the subject of recent epidemiological studies. However,most bioanalytical methods focus on a select few DBPs. In this study, a new comprehensive bioanalytical method has been developed that can quantify mixtures of organic halogenated compounds, including DBPs, in human urine as total organic chlorine（TOCl）, total organic bromine（TOBr）, and total organic iodine（TOI）. The optimized method consists of urine dilution, adsorption to activated carbon, pyrolysis of activated carbon, absorption of gases in an aqueous solution, and halide analysis with ion chromatography and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Spike recoveries for TOCl, TOBr, and TOI measurements ranged between 78% and 99%. Average TOCl, TOBr, and TOI concentrations in five urine samples from volunteers who consumed tap water were 1850, 82, and 21.0 μg/L as X^-, respectively.Volunteers who consumed spring water（control） had TOCl, TOBr, and TOI average concentrations in urine of 1090, 88, and 10.3 μg/L as X^-, respectively. TOCl and TOI in the urine samples from tap water consumers were higher than the control. However, TOBr was slightly lower in tap water urine samples compared to mineral water urine samples, indicating other sources of environmental exposure other than drinking water. A larger sample population that consumes tap water from different cities and mineral water is needed to determine TOCl, TOBr, and TOI exposure from drinking water.

Comparison of UV-based advanced oxidation processes for the removal of different fractions of NOM from drinking water

This study examined the effectiveness for degradation of hydrophobic (HPO),transphilic(TPI) and hydrophilic (HPI) fractions of natural organic matter (NOM) during UV/H_(2)O_(2),UV/TiO_(2)and UV/K2S2O8(UV/PS) advanced oxidation processes (AOPs).The changing characteristics of NOM were evaluated by dissolved organic carbon (DOC),the specific UV absorbance (SUVA),trihalomethanes formation potential (THMFP),organic halogen adsorbable on activated carbon formation potential (AOXFP) and parallel factor analysis of excitation–emission matrices (PARAFAC-EEMs).In the three UV-based AOPs,HPI fraction with low molecular weight and aromaticity was more likely to degradate than HPO and TPI,and the removal efficiency of SUVA for HPO was much higher than TPI and HPI fraction.In terms of the specific THMFP of HPO,TPI and HPI,a reduction was achieved in the UV/H_(2)O_(2)process,and the higest removal rate even reached to 83%.UV/TiO_(2)and UV/PS processes can only decrease the specific THMFP of HPI.The specific AOXFP of HPO,TPI and HPI fractions were all able to be degraded by the three UV-based AOPs,and HPO content is more susceptible to decompose than TPI and HPI content.UV/H_(2)O_(2)was found to be the most effective treatment for the removal of THMFP and AOXFP under given conditions.C1 (microbial or marine derived humic-like substances),C_(2) (terrestrially derived humic-like substances)and C_(3) (tryptophan-like proteins) fluorescent components of HPO fraction were fairly labile across the UV-based AOPs treatment.C_(3) of each fraction of NOM was the most resistant to degrade upon the UV-based AOPs.Results from this study may provide the prediction about the consequence of UV-based AOPs for the degradation of different fractions of NOM with varied characteristics.