Factors Affecting Inactivation Behavior in the Monochloramination Range
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 1
Abstract
The effects of monochloramine application techniques, chlorine-to-ammonia-N (Cl:N) ratios, water matrices, and bacterial origins on fecal coliform bacteria inactivation behavior in the monochloramination range were studied in ammoniacal bacteria suspensions and wastewater samples containing either naturally occurring or reseeded laboratory-cultured fecal coliform bacteria. The time-dependent chlorine residual concentrations and the bacteria counts were measured. The inactivation behavior was strongly affected by the monochloramine application techniques and the initial chlorine and ammonia concentrations and ratios. When dosing free chlorine to the ammoniacal solution, a “two-stage” pattern that coupled initial inactivation by transitory free chlorine and extended inactivation by forming monochloramine was observed at a Cl:N ratio of 3:1, while, at a high initial ammonia concentration , synergy without initial inactivation was found instead. The difference is explained with calculations of the free-chlorine CT values. The inactivation behavior of laboratory-cultured suspensions differed from that of wastewater effluents, which was primarily attributable to the variations in the water matrix, not to the bacterial origins. Conducting dose-response studies using autoclaved wastewater samples reseeded with field-isolated, laboratory-cultured bacteria was proposed as the solution.
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Acknowledgment
The writers are grateful to the Research Grants Council, Hong Kong for financial support of this research under the RGC Competitive Earmarked Research Grant No. HKUST6035/01E.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 1 • January 2005
Pages: 119 - 129
Copyright
© 2004 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 17, 2002
Accepted: Feb 18, 2004
Published online: Jan 1, 2005
Published in print: Jan 2005
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Mark J. Rood
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