Comparison of Organic Matter Properties and Disinfection By-Product Formation between the Typical Groundwater and Surface Water

Abstract

The disinfection by-product (DBP) formation was affected by the dissolved organic matter (DOM). Therefore, the DOM properties and DBP formation potential of the two most widely used source waters: groundwater (GW) and surface water (SW), were comparatively studied in this work. The results suggested that the GW mainly consisted of protein-like organics with smaller molecular weight (Mw) less than 3000 Da, while the SW contained the humic- and fulvic-like substances with larger Mw. The tap water DBP concentration of GW as source water was lower than that of SW as well as the cytotoxic index (CI). The total DBP formation potential of the SW under chlorine and chloramine disinfection was higher than that of GW, especially the trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acid (HAAs). The higher THM and HAA formation potential of the SW was mainly attributed to the relatively hydrophobic and aromatic humic and fulvic substances. The halonitromethanes (HANs) formation was mainly due to the less hydrophobic protein-like components with smaller Mw. In addition, the total CI of the GW was lower than the SW under both chlorine and chloramine disinfection. Therefore, for the DBPs control, using the GW as source water was more beneficial to human health.

Role of Copper in Disinfection Byproduct Formation Derived from Algal Organic Matter: Based on Two-Dimensional Correlation Spectroscopy Analysis

“…In the same way, the reaction between IOM and chlorine occurred in the following sequence: tryptophan-like fluorescence fraction → fulvic-like fluorescence fraction → humic-like fluorescence fraction (Table S4), which was opposite to the reaction sequence between EOM and chlorine. Prior researches also reported that fulvic-like and humic-like compounds would react with chlorine to generate carbonaceous DBPs such as TCM, dichloroacetic acid, etc. , Nevertheless, protein-like compounds, including tryptophan-like compounds, were more likely to produce nitrogenous DBPs (i.g., DCAN, dichloroacetamide, etc.) during chlorination. , Therefore, the yields of TCM in EOM were higher than that in IOM, whereas IOM generated a large amount of DCAN (Figure ).…”