Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment (한국물환경학회지)

Korean Society on Water Environment (한국물환경학회)
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Monitoring of Changes in Molecular Weight Distribution and Fluorescence Properties of Dissolved Matter (DOM) in Water Treatment Processes

정수처리공정 중 자연유기물질의 분자량 분포 및 형광특성 변화 모니터링

  • Park, Min-Hye (Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Sejong University) ;
  • Hur, Jin (Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Sejong University)
  • 박민혜 (세종대학교 지구환경과학과) ;
  • 허진 (세종대학교 지구환경과학과)
  • Received : 2007.10.04
  • Accepted : 2007.10.17
  • Published : 2007.11.30
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Abstract

Monitoring of NOM characteristics is important for improving removal efficiency of natural organic matter (NOM) in water treatment processes. In this study, several NOM characteristics, which include specific UV absorbance (SUVA), total carbonate content, molecular weight distribution, and fluorescence properties, were measured using samples collected from a pilot-scale water treatment plant consisting of coagulation/flocculation (C/F), filtration, ozonation and granular activated carbon (GAC) processes. The highest removal of NOM was observed in C/F and filtration processes as demonstrated by the reduction of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) by 25% and 21%, respectively. Despite nearly no change in DOC, however, the lowest SUVA value and the highest total carbohydrate content were observed in the sample from ozonation process. This indicates that non-degradable aromatic compounds become depleted and biodegradable organic compounds are enriched during the process. Comparison of synchronous fluorescence spectra of the samples showed that ozoation process increased protein-like fluorescence while it decreased fulvic-like and terrestrial humic-like fluorescence. Consistently, a slight peak of protein-like fluorescence was observed in the sample from ozonation process. The greatest change in molecular weight distributions of the samples was observed in C/F process. Comparison of size exclusion chromatogram of the samples revealed that NOM fractions with the molecular weight greater than 2000 Da were reduced by over 90% after C/F process. SUVA values and total carbohydrate content of the samples were well correlated with a ratio of protein-like fluorescence and terrestrial humic-like fluorescence intensities with the correlation coefficients of 0.99 and 0.91, respectively. This suggests that synchronous fluorescence properties of NOM could be used as useful tolls for monitoring changes of some NOM characteristics during water treatment processes.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

Supported by : 한국학술진흥재단

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