Staged Coagulation for Treatment of Refractory Organics
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 130, Issue 9
Abstract
Seasonal periods of high rainfall have been shown to cause elevated natural organic matter (NOM) loadings at treatment works. These high levels lead to difficulties in removing sufficient NOM to meet trihalomethane standards, and hence better alternative treatments are required. Here the removal of NOM was investigated by conventional coagulation treatment using both bulk and fractionated NOM. Initial experiments showed that over 70% removal of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic acid fractions was achieved at the works, while only 16% of the hydrophilic nonacid fraction was being removed. Bench scale jar testing of the isolated NOM fractions demonstrated that high removals of the hydrophobic fractions were achieved and that optimized conditions increased removal of the hydrophilic fractions, indicating that staged coagulation could be of benefit in the removal of the recalcitrant fractions. Experiments using optimized staged coagulation indicated that a small increase in the removal of the total NOM of this water was possible when compared to conventional treatment.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Aiken, G. R., McKnight, D. M., Thorn, K. A., and Thurman, E. M.(1992). “Isolation of hydrophilic organic acids from water using nonionic macroporous resins.” Org. Geochem., 18(4), 567–573.
American Public Health Association/American Water Works Association/Water Environment Federation. (1992). Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 18th Ed., Washington, D.C.
Amirtharajah, A., and O’Melia, C. R. (1990). Coagulation processes: destabilization, mixing, and flocculation, McGraw-Hill, New York, 269–365.
Bell-Ajy, K., Abbaszadegan, M., Ibrahim, E., Verges, D., and LeChevallier, M.(2000). “Conventional and optimized coagulation for NOM removal.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 92(10), 44–58.
Billica, J. A., and Gertig, K. R. (2000). “Optimization of a coagulation process to treat high TOC, low alkalinity water and its impact on filtration performance.” Proc., American Water Works Association Water Quality Technology Conf., Salt Lake City.
Bose, P., and Reckhow, D. A.(1998). “Adsorption of natural organic matter on preformed aluminium hydroxide flocs.” J. Environ. Eng., 124(9), 803–811.
Carlson, K. H., and Gregory, D.(2000). “Optimizing water treatment with two-stage coagulation.” J. Environ. Eng., 126(6), 556–561.
Cheng, R. C., Krasner, S. W., Green, J. F., and Wattier, K. L.(1995). “Enhanced coagulation: a preliminary evaluation.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 87(2), 91–103.
Chow, C. K. C., van Leeuwen, J. A., Drikas, M., Fabris, R., Spark, K. M., and Page, D. W.(1999). “The impact of the character of natural organic matter in conventional treatment with alum.” Water Sci. Technol., 40(9), 97–104.
Chow, C., van Leeuwen, J., Fabris, R., King, S., Withers, N., Spark, K., and Drikas, M. (2000). “Enhanced coagulation for removal of dissolved organic carbon with alum-a fractionation approach.” Sydney, Australia.
Croué, J.-P., Debroux, J.-F., Amy, G. L., Aiken, G. R., and Leenheer, J. A. (1999). Natural organic matter: Structural characteristics and reac-tive properties, P. C. Singer, ed., American Water Works Association, Denver, 65–93.
Dennett, K. E., Amirtharajah, A., Studstill, A., Moran, T. F., and Gould, J. P. (1995). Humic substance removal and minimization of trihalomethanes by ferric chloride coagulation, American Water Works Association Research Foundation, Denver.
Drinking Water Inspectorate. (1998). “New drinking water regulations in the UK.”
Edzwald, J. K., and Tobiason, J. E.(1999). “Enhanced coagulation: USA requirements and a broader view.” Water Sci. Technol., 40(9), 63–70.
Goslan, E. H., Fearing, D. A., Banks, J., Wilson, D., Hillis, P., Campbell, A. T., and Parsons, S. A.(2002). “Seasonal variations in the disinfection by-product precursor profile of a reservoir water.” J. Water Supply: Research Technology-AQUA, 51, 475–482.
Gregor, J. E., Nokes, C. J., and Fenton, E.(1997). “Optimising natural organic matter removal from low turbidity waters by controlled pH adjustment of aluminium coagulation.” Water Res., 31(12), 2949–2958.
Jiang, J. Q., and Graham, N. J. D.(1998). “Preliminary evaluation of the performance of new pre-polymerised inorganic coagulants for lowland surface water treatment.” Water Sci. Technol., 37(2), 121–128.
Krasner, S. W., McGuire, M. J., Jacangelo, J. G., Patania, N. L., Reagan, K. M., and Aieta, E. M.(1989). “The occurrence of disinfection by-products in US drinking water.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 81(8), 41–53.
Lind, C. B. (1995). “Experiments in TOC removal by polyaluminium hydroxychloride and enhanced coagulants.” Proc., American Water Works Association Annual Conf., Anaheim, Calif.
Malcohn, R. L., and MacCarthy, P.(1992). “Quantitative evaluation of XAD-8 and XAD-4 resins used in tandem for removing organic solutes from water.” Environ. Int., 15, 597–607.
Owen, D. M., Amy, G. L., and Chowdhury, Z. K. (1993). Characterization of natural organic matter and its relationship to treatability, American Water Works Association Research Foundation, Denver.
Peuravuori, J., and Pihlaja, K.(1997). “Molecular size distribution and spectroscopic properties of aquatic humic substances.” Anal. Chim. Acta, 337(2), 133–149.
Rodriguez, M. J., Sérodes, J., and Morin, M.(2000). “Estimation of water utility compliance with trihalomethane regulations using a modelling approach.” J. Water Supply: Research Technology-AQUA, 49(2), 57–73.
Singer, P. C.(1999). “Humic substances as precursors for potentially harmful disinfection by-products.” Water Sci. Technol., 40(9), 25–30.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (1998). “National primary drinking water regulations: disinfections and disinfection byproducts; final rule.” Federal Register, 63(No. 241), 69390–69476.
Volk, C., Bell, K., Ibrahim, E., Verges, D., Amy, G., and Lechevallier, M.(2000). “Impact of enhanced and optimised coagulation on removal of organic matter and its biodegradable fraction in drinking water.” Water Res., 34(12), 3247–3257.
Wahlroos, G.(1991). “The realization of activated-carbon filtration in a water purification process for highly humic water by prior two-stage iron(III) salt coagulation.” J. Water Supply: Res. Technol.-AQUA, 40(4), 211–216.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 130 • Issue 9 • September 2004
Pages: 975 - 982
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 16, 2002
Accepted: Jun 27, 2003
Published online: Aug 16, 2004
Published in print: Sep 2004
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.