Molecular characterization of effluent organic matter in secondary effluent and reclaimed water:Comparison to natural organic matter in source water

Municipal wastewater reclamation is becoming of increasing importance in the world to solve the problem of water scarcity. A better understanding of the molecular composition of effluent organic matter（Ef OM） in the treated effluents of municipal wastewater treatment plants（WWTPs） is crucial for ensuring the safety of water reuse. In this study, the molecular composition of Ef OM in the secondary effluent of a WWTP in Beijing and the reclaimed water further treated with a coagulation–sedimentation–ozonation process were characterized using a non-target Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry（FT-ICR MS） method and compared to that of natural organic matter（NOM） in the local source water from a reservoir. It was found that the molecular composition of Ef OM in the secondary effluent and reclaimed water was dominated by CHOS formulas, while NOM in the source water was dominated by CHO formulas. The CHO formulas of the three samples had similar origins. Anthropogenic surfactants were responsible for the CHOS formulas in Ef OM of the secondary effluent and were not well removed by the coagulation-sedimentation-ozonation treatment process adopted.

Effects of ozonation and coagulation on effluent organic matter characteristics and ultrafiltration membrane fouling

Effluent organic matter （EfOM） is the major cause of fouling in the low pressure membranes process for wastewater reuse. Coagulation and oxidation of biological wastewater treatment effluent have been applied for the fouling control of microfiltration membranes. However, the change in EfOM structure by pre-treatments has not been clearly identified. The changes of EfOM characteristics induced by coagulation and ozonation were investigated through size exclusion chromatography, UV/Vis spectrophotometry, fluorescence spectrophotometry and titrimetric analysis to identify the mechanisms in the reduction of ultrafiltration （UF） membrane fouling. The results indicated that reduction of flux decline by coagulation was due to modified characteristics of dissolved organic carbon （DOC） content. Total concentration of DOC was not reduced by ozonation. However, the mass fraction of the molecules with molecular weight larger than 5 kDa, fluorescence intensity, aromaticity, highly condensed chromophores, average molecular weight and soluble microbial byproducts decreased greatly after ozonation. These results indicated that EfOM was partially oxidized by ozonation to low molecular weight, highly charged compounds with abundant electron- withdrawing functional groups, which are favourable for alleviating UF membrane flux decline.

Influence of EfOM on the Oxidation of Micropollutants by Ozone and UVIH2O2 in Secondary Effluents

The aim of this work was to study the influence of effluent organic matter （EfOM） on micropollutants removal by ozone and UV/H2O2. To perform the experiments, deionized water and municipal secondary effluents （SE） were artificially contaminated with atrazine （ATZ） and treated by the two proposed methods. ATZ concentration, COD and TOC were recorded along the reaction time and used to evaluate EfOM effect on the system efficiency. Results demonstrate that the presence of EfOM can significantly reduce the micropollutant removal rate due to competition of EfOM components to react with radicals and/or molecular ozone. The hydroxyl radical scavenging caused by EfOM was quantified as well as the contribution of molecular ozone and .OH radicals during the ozonation of SE. EfOM components promoted higher inhibition of ATZ oxidation by hydroxyl radicals than by molecular ozone.

Characterization of the dissolved organic matter in sewage effluent of sequence batch reactor： the impact of carbon source

Dissolved organic matter （DOM） transforma- tion in sequence batch reactor （SBR） fed with carbon sources of different biodegradability was investigated. During the biologic degradation process, the low mole- cular weight （MW） fraction （〈 1 kDa） gradually decreased, while the refractory compounds with higher aromaticity were aggregated. Size exclusion chromatogra- phy （SEC） and fluorescence of excitation emission matrices （EEM） demonstrated that more biopolymers （polysaccharides or proteins） and humic-like substances were presented in the extracellular polymeric substance （EPS） extracted from the SBR fed with sodium acetate or glucose, while the EPS from SBR fed with slowly biodegradable dissolved organic carbon （DOC） substrate- starch had relatively less biopolymers. Comparing the EfOM in sewage effluent of three SBRs, the effluent from SBR fed with starch is more aromatic. Organic carbon with MW 〉 1 kDa as well as the hydrophobic fraction in DOM gradually increased with the carbon sources changing from sodium acetate to glucose and starch. The DOC fractiona- tion and the EEM all demonstrated that EfOM from the effluent of the SBR fed with starch contained more fulvic acid-like substances comparing with the SBR fed with sodium acetate and glucose.

Degradation of dissolved organic matter in effluent of municipal wastewater plant by a combined tidal and subsurface flow constructed wetland

Dissolved organic matter(DOM)is an important constituent of wastewater treatment plant(WWTP)effluent.A novel combined tidal and subsurface flow constructed wetland(TF-SSFCW)of 90 L was constructed for a ten-month trial of advanced treatment of the WWTP effluent.Excitation emission matrix(EEM)fluorescence spectroscopy,parallel factor(PARAFAC)analysis and a two end-member mixing model were employed to characterize the composition and removal process of the effluent DOM(EfOM)from the WWTP.The results showed that the TF-SSF-CW performed an efficient EfOM removal with dissolved organic carbon(DOC)removal rate of 88%and dissolved organic nitrogen(DON)removal rate of 91%.Further analysis demonstrated that the EfOM consisted mainly of two protein moieties and two humic-like groups;protein moieties(76%)constituted the main content of EfOM in raw water and humic-like groups(57%)became the dominating contributor after treatment.The EfOM from the WWTP was mainly of aquatic bacterial origin and evolved to a higher proportion of terrigenous origin with higher humification in the TF-SSF-CW effluent.A common controlling treatment-related factor for determining the concentrations of the same kind of substances(protein groups or humic-like groups)was revealed to exist,and the ratio of removal rates between the same substances in treatment was calculated.Our study demonstrates that the TF-SSF-CW can be a novel and effective treatment method for the EfOM from WWTPs,and is helpful for understanding of the character of EfOM in wetland treatment.

Effects of duckweed(Spriodela polyrrhiza)remediation on the composition of dissolved organic matter in effluent of scale pig farms

The swine effluent studied was collected from scale pig farms,located in Yujiang County of Jiangxi Province,China,and duckweed（Spriodela polyrrhiza） was selected to dispose the effluent.The purpose of this study was to elucidate the effects of duckweed growth on the dissolved organic matter composition in swine effluent.Throughout the experiment period,the concentrations of organic matter were determined regularly,and the excitationemission matrix（3DEEM） spectroscopy was used to characterize the fluorescence component.Compared with no-duckweed treatments（controls）,the specific ultra-violet absorbance at 254 nm（SUVA254） was increased by a final average of 34.4%as the phytoremediation using duckweed,and the removal rate of DOC was increased by a final average of 28.0%.In swine effluent,four fluorescence components were identified,including two protein-like（tryptophan,tyrosine） and two humic-like（fulvic acids,humic acids） components.For all treatments,the concentrations of protein-like components decreased by a final average of 69.0%.As the growth of duckweed,the concentrations of humic-like components were increased by a final average of 123.5%than controls.Significant and positive correlations were observed between SUVA254 and humic-like components.Compared with the controls,the humification index（HIX） increased by a final average of 9.0%for duckweed treatments.Meanwhile,the duckweed growth leaded to a lower biological index（BIX） and a higher proportion of microbial-derived fulvic acids than controls.In conclusion,the duckweed remediation not only enhanced the removal rate of organic matter in swine effluent,but also increased the percent of humic substances.

Formation of regulated and unregulated disinfection byproducts during chlorination and chloramination: Roles of dissolved organic matter type, bromide, and iodide

Algal blooms and wastewater effluents can introduce algal organic matter(AOM) and effluent organic matter(Ef OM) into surface waters, respectively. In this study, the impact of bromide and iodide on the formation of halogenated disinfection byproducts(DBPs) during chlorination and chloramination from various types of dissolved organic matter(DOM, e.g., natural organic matter(NOM), AOM, and Ef OM) were investigated based on the data collected from literature. In general, higher formation of trihalomethanes(THMs) and haloacetic acids(HAAs) was observed in NOM than AOM and Ef OM, indicating high reactivities of phenolic moieties with both chlorine and monochloramine. The formation of haloacetaldehydes(HALs), haloacetonitriles(HANs) and haloacetamides(HAMs) was much lower than THMs and HAAs. Increasing initial bromide concentrations increased the formation of THMs, HAAs, HANs, and HAMs, but not HALs. Bromine substitution factor(BSF) values of DBPs formed in chlorination decreased as specific ultraviolet absorbance(SUVA) increased. AOM favored the formation of iodinated THMs(I-THMs) during chloramination using preformed chloramines and chlorination-chloramination processes. Increasing prechlorination time can reduce the I-THM concentrations because of the conversion of iodide to iodate, but this increased the formation of chlorinated and brominated DBPs. In an analogous way, iodine substitution factor(ISF) values of I-THMs formed in chloramination decreased as SUVA values of DOM increased. Compared to chlorination, the formation of noniodinated DBPs is low in chloramination.

Controlling various contaminants in wastewater effluent through membranes and engineered wetland

For effective wastewater reclamation and water recovery,the treatment of natural and effluent organic matters(NOM and EfOM),toxic anions,and micropollutants was considered in this work.Two different NOM(humic acid of the Suwannee River,and NOM of US and Youngsan River,Korea),and one EfOM from the Damyang wastewater treatment plant,Korea,were selected for investigating the removal efficiencies of tight nanofiltration(NF)and ultrafiltration(UF)membranes with different properties.Nitrate,bromate,and perchlorate were selected as target toxic anions due to their well known high toxicities.Tri-(2-chloroethyl)-phosphate(TCEP),oxybenzone,and caffeine,due to their different K_(ow) and pK_(a) values,were selected as target micropollutants.As expected,the NF membranes provided high removal efficiencies in terms of all the tested contaminants,and the UF membrane provided fairly high removal efficiencies for anions(except for nitrate)and the relatively hydrophobic micropollutant,oxybenzon.Through the wetlands,nitrate was successfully removed.Therefore,a fair process of combining membranes with an engineered wetland could be proposed for sustainable wastewater reclamation and optimum control of contaminats.