a b s t r a c tOzonation is known to be very effective in the removal of odorants from source water. However, it is not known if ozonation is effective in the removal of multiple odorants causing different types of odors. In this study, the removal performance for odors and odorants were evaluated in a Water Treatment Plant (WTP), which was equipped with coagulation, sedimentation, ozonation, biological activated carbon (BAC) filtration, sand filtration, and chlorination in succession and located in the downstream of the Huangpu (HP) River, over the period from April, 2014 to April, 2015. Flavor profile analysis (FPA) results showed that the source water was constantly associated with septic and musty odors. Geosmin and 2-MIB, with an average OAV of 4.54 and 1.38, respectively, were the major odorants for musty odor, while bis(2-chloroisopropyl) ether, DEDS and DMDS with an average OAV of 2.35, 1.65 and 0.78, respectively, might be responsible for the septic odor. While the musty odor could be removed effectively through the combination of ozonation and BAC, the septic odor and associated odorants required further treatment with sand filtration and chlorination for complete removal. It is clear that the advanced treatment process was effective for the treatment of source water containing complicated odorants. It should be noted that the sedimentation process needs careful management because release of odorants may occur during the treatment. The result of this study will be helpful for the mitigation of odors in WTP using source waters suffering from complicated odor problems.

Despite the strong oxidizing ability of ozone, pre-ozonation has seldom been employed for the purpose of micropollutant removal in drinking water utilities. In this paper, the possibility of using pre-ozonation instead of post-ozonation for the removal of micropollutants was explored because of the lower risk of forming carcinogenic bromate. A 1.0 m/h pilot system was utilized to compare the efficacy of pre- and post-ozonation in the removal of bulk organic pollutants as well as micropollutants, including typical odor-causing compounds, pharmaceuticals, and typical pesticides, from one source water (Huangpu River) characterized by the occurrence of various micropollutants. Both pre-ozonation and post-ozonation could achieve similar water purification performance under an ozone dose of 1.5 mg/L, in terms of bulk water quality parameters like COD (66% in combination with biological activated carbon (BAC) treatment, compared to 62% with the pre-ozonation-BAC combination) or micropollutants including 27 pharmaceuticals (85% in combination with BAC compared to 87% with the pre-ozonation-BAC combination) and 25 pesticides (72% in combination with BAC compared to 61% with the pre-ozonation-BAC combination). Pre-ozonation exhibited slightly better odorant removal performance (100% in combination with BAC compared to 92% with the post-ozonation-BAC combination); however, post-ozonation generated approximately 6.0 μg/L bromate at an ozone dose of 2.0 mg/L, while pre-ozonation did not form bromate even at an ozone dose as high as 3.0 mg/L. So pre-ozonation in combination with BAC might be a solution for the removal of micropollutants from source water with high bromate formation risk. The results of this study will be helpful for the optimization of ozonation processes in the water supply industry.

Identification of the trace odorants causing the septic odors in source waters with complex matrixes has long been a big challenge. The Huangpu (HP) River, an important source water for Shanghai, has long been suffering from septic and musty odors, although major odorants have not been identified. In this study, combining the data from gas chromatography-olfactometry with mass spectrometry (GC-O/MS) and comprehensive twodimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC-TOFMS) using retention indices (RIs) was used for the identification of odorants in HP source water. Olfactometry peaks detected in water extracts by GC-O/MS were combined with the chromatography peaks detected by GC × GC-TOFMS based on the RIs determined using the retention times (RTs) of alkanes C7-C30. A total of thirteen olfactometry peaks were obtained though GC-O/MS analysis, and potential odorants corresponding to each of the olfactometry peaks were screened based on the odor characteristics and match similarity using GC × GC-TOFMS. Finally, fourteen odorants (one odorant was detected in GC × GC-TOFMS without an olfactometry peak), including three septic odorants (bis(2-chloroisopropyl) ether, diethyl disulfide and dimethyl disulfide) and two musty ones (geosmin and 2-MIB), were confirmed by using authentic standards. The septic and musty odorants in six Contents lists available at ScienceDirectScience of the Total Environment j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / s c i t o t e n v source water samples taken over a period of six months were quantified. Bis(2-chloroisopropyl) ether, with an odor activity value (OAV) of 1.84-3.2, was found to be a major septic odorant in HP source water, followed by diethyl disulfide (OAV 1.56-1.96) and dimethyl disulfide (OAV 0.37-2.42), while geosmin (OAV 4.37-11.44) was the major musty odorant, followed by 2-MIB (OAV 1.13-1.89). This is the first comprehensive study focusing on the identification of odorants in a complex source water. The integrated approach used in this study could be applied for the identification of odorants in other complex source waters suffering similar odor problems.

BackgroundIdentifying typical odor-causing compounds is essential for odor problem control in drinking water. In this study, aiming at a major water source reservoir in hot and humid areas in southern China, which encountered seasonable odor problems in recent years, an integrated approach including comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC–TOFMS), flavor profile analysis (FPA) and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was adopted to investigate the odor occurrence.ResultsThe results indicated that earthy–musty odor is blamed to the seasonable odor problems, and it is consistent with the complaints results from consumers. Fifty-four typical odor compounds were investigated in the reservoir and twelve were detected, of which, 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB) was significantly increased during the odor event. Pseudanabaena sp. is the dominant species in the reservoir, which can be further represented by the number of mic gene with qPCR method (R2 = 0.746, P < 0.001). Oxygen consumption (CODMn) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) have great influence on growth of Pseudanabaena sp., and the release of 2-MIB from the Pseudanabaena sp. cells is affected by temperature and light.ConclusionOur findings demonstrated that 2-MIB is the odor-caused substance in the reservoir and Pseudanabaena sp. is the main 2-MIB producer, which was confirmed as a benthic filamentous algae. Due to CODMn and DOC have great influence on Pseudanabaena sp. growth, further measures to reduce the CODMn and DOC input should be performed. We also demonstrated that the 2-MIB release is affected by temperature and light. The risk of sudden increase of 2-MIB will be reduced by raising the depth of water in the reservoir. Our study will improve the understanding of T&O problems in this city, as well as in other hot and humid area.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12302-018-0175-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Background: To improve the microbial safety of drinking water, an arrangement of O 3-BAC with rear sand filtration (O 3-BAC-sand) has been proposed. In this study, efforts were devoted to evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of O 3-BAC-sand in a full-scale water treatment plant. The performance of the two configurations was compared in terms of particles, turbidity, COD Mn and typical odorants and pesticides. Results: The O 3-BAC-sand yielded lower turbidity but higher COD Mn (by approximately 7%) in the finished water than regular O 3-BAC (sand-O 3-BAC). Both systems removed odors in raw water; however, sand-O 3-BAC was more effective on septic and musty odorants. The total pesticide removals by sand-O 3-BAC and O 3-BAC-sand were 78% and 72%, respectively; though the latter had shorter activated carbon durable years. Conclusion: The re-location of the sand filter would sacrifice the BAC efficiency in removals of organic matter and micropollutants. This tradeoff is a result of the loss of the particulate organic matter removal by sand filters, because locating the sand filter behind BAC causes particle load increase on BAC; some measures of enhanced coagulation should be suggested to improve the turbidity and particle removal. The study will be helpful for improvement of the O 3-BAC process in drinking water treatment.

The construction industry has been greatly developed in the past few decades, especially in the extensive use of underground space. The increasing amount of waste (e.g., soil, sludge, and rock) generated in the underground construction constitutes an important part of construction and demolition waste (CDW) but the related problems are rarely addressed in an independent quantitative study. In order to facilitate recycling of underground construction waste (UCW), quantitative methods for predicting UCW are proposed based on mass conservation in this study. Through on-site investigation and literature review, the source characteristics of UCW and corresponding recycling potential are firstly analyzed. Secondly, the corresponding quantitative mothed is proposed for predicting each type of UCW according to the principle of mass conservation. Finally, the proposed quantitative methods are applied in two real underground infrastructure projects to verify the accuracy. The results show that the accuracy of quantitative methods for predicting shield sludge and engineering soil is 82.03%-95.79% and 94.49% respectively. In addition, detailed geological and geotechnical analysis is the key to accurate management of waste generated in underground civil and infrastructure projects. In both cases, underground construction produced a large amount of construction waste with great recycling potential. UCW can theoretically reach 100% recycling, and full reuse and recycling of UCW will bring huge economic value and be conducive to the sustainable development of the construction industry.

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