Comparison of Hydrogen Peroxide to Ammonium Ions and Sulfite as a Free Chlorine Quenching Agent for Disinfection By-Product Measurement
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 7
Abstract
Hydrogen peroxide is a potential dechlorinating agent that can preserve chlorinated drinking water samples for the determination of disinfection by-products (DBPs). The impact of hydrogen peroxide on the storage of trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetic acids (HAAs), haloacetonitriles (HANs), and adsorbable organic halides (AOX) generated by chlorination in a model of natural water was investigated and compared with parallel samples quenched by sodium sulfite and ammonium sulfate. Positive errors of up to for THMs, for HAAs, for HANs, and for AOX were found after adding ammonium and storing for 9 days at 4°C, primarily due to the continued formation of chloroform, bromodichloromethane, dichloro- and trichloro-acetic acids, and dichloroacetonitrile. Hydrogen peroxide and sulfite led to smaller errors in the determination of THMs, HAAs, and AOX, while HANs degraded in the presence of sulfite. Hydrogen peroxide was the most suitable dechlorinating agent of these three for preserving THM, HAA, HAN, and AOX samples, provided that the relatively slow chlorine quenching reaction time (e.g., 3–4 min) is acceptable.
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Acknowledgments
The authors express their appreciation to the staff at the Keswick Water Treatment Plant and the Regional Municipality of York.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 142 • Issue 7 • July 2016
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 24, 2015
Accepted: Sep 2, 2015
Published online: Feb 8, 2016
Published in print: Jul 1, 2016
Discussion open until: Jul 8, 2016
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