Effects of Ozonation vs. Chlorination Water Treatment Operations on Natural Organic Matter Fractions

Abstract

Isolation and fractionation of natural organic matter (NOM) by resin adsorption was conducted at two surface drinking water treatment plants that treat the same source water. The first treatment plant uses conventional treatment (coagulation, sedimentation, and filtration) with chlorination while the second plant uses conventional treatment with pre and intermediate ozonation, and multi-media granular activated carbon filtration. Several different sampling locations within each plant were selected for NOM isolation and fractionation into six fractions (hydrophobic acid, neutral and base, and hydrophilic acid, neutral, and base). Chemical fluorescence of the NOM was used to monitor the removal/reactivity of each fraction. The effectiveness of each treatment plant on the oxidation and removal of each organic fraction are discussed.