Preparation, characterization and coagulation behaviour of polyferric magnesium silicate (PFMSi) coagulant.

A composite coagulant polyferric magnesium silicate (PFMSi) was synthesized by co-polymerization. The structure and morphology of PFMSi were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectra and scanning electron microscope microphotographs; meanwhile, the coagulation efficiency was evaluated under different ratios of Fe/Si, Mg/Si, basicity ([OH]/[M] ratio), and dosage. The results suggested that the PFMSi coagulant shows an amorphous phase structure, and new chemical compounds had been formed; simultaneously, the different preparation conditions had major effects on coagulation performance. Additionally, the raw water collected from Pearl River was used as a treated water sample to verify the coagulation efficiency of PFMSi. Overall, it is suggested that PFMSi is an efficient coagulant in the removal of turbidity, UV254 and total organic carbon, and it shows a markedly better coagulation performance than polymeric aluminium and non-modified coagulant. The study of coagulation kinetics and zeta potential showed that adsorption-bridging was the main mechanism for the introduction of silicon.

Removal of pollutants by enhanced coagulation combined PAC with variable charge soils: flocs' properties and effect of pH.

This study investigated the properties of flocs and effects of the solution pH on removal of representative pollutants by enhanced coagulation with variable charge soils of South China and polyaluminum chloride (PAC). The results demonstrated that the removal efficiency of turbidity was larger and the aggregated flocs had a faster growth rate, bigger size, denser structure and faster settling rate than those generated by PAC alone, when variable charge soil was used in conjunction with PAC. Additionally, initial solutions pH had meaningful effects on removal of pollutants. With the increase in the pH of the solution, the removal efficiencies of turbidity, algae and heavy metal ions significantly increased. Besides, charge neutralization together with physical entrapment of colloids was the dominant mechanism in enhanced coagulation, and variable charge soil displayed a great adsorption effect.

Precursors and factors affecting formation of haloacetonitriles and chloropicrin during chlor(am)ination of nitrogenous organic compounds in drinking water.

This study investigated the precursors and factors affecting formation of haloacetonitriles (HANs) and chloropicrin (TCNM) during chlorination/chloramination of eight amino acids in the effluent water of V-type clarifying filtration from a drinking water treatment plant. The yields of trichloroacetonitrile (TCAN), dichloroacetonitrile (DCAN) and TCNM were higher during chlorination than during chloramination. Tyrosine and tryptophan produced the greatest amount of DCAN and also generated a small amount of TCAN during chlorination process. Besides, the yields of DCAN were higher than TCNM during chlorination/chloramination. Contact time, Cl2:org-N molar ratios, pH, temperature and bromide ion affected nitrogenous disinfection by-products (N-DBPs) formation during chlorination of tryptophan in different degrees. TCAN, DCAN and TCNM formation showed the increasing and then decreasing with prolonged contact time. Higher Cl2:org-N molar ratios improved N-DBPs formation within a certain range. The pH affected N-DBPs formation differently. HANs increased with increasing pH from 5 to 6 and decreased with increasing pH from 6 to 9, while TCNM increased with increasing pH from 5 to 9. Higher temperatures enhanced TCNM formation, but reduced the formation of TCAN and DCAN. The presence of bromide ions improved the yields of HANs and TCNM and shifted N-DBPs to more brominated ones.

Enhanced coagulation for improving coagulation performance and reducing residual aluminum combining polyaluminum chloride with diatomite.

The feasibility of using enhanced coagulation, which combined polyaluminum chloride (PAC) with diatomite for improving coagulation performance and reducing the residual aluminum (Al), was discussed. The effects of PAC and diatomite dosage on the coagulation performance and residual Al were mainly investigated. Results demonstrated that the removal efficiencies of turbidity, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and UV254 were significantly improved by the enhanced coagulation, compared with PAC coagulation alone. Meaningfully, the five forms of residual Al (total Al (TAl), total dissolved Al (TDAl), dissolved organic Al (DOAl), dissolved monomeric Al (DMAl), and dissolved organic monomeric Al (DOMAl)) all had different degrees of reduction in the presence of diatomite and achieved the lowest concentrations (0.185, 0.06, 0.053, 0.014, and 0 mg L(-1), respectively) at a PAC dose of 15 mg L(-1) and diatomite dose of 40 mg L(-1). In addition, when PAC was used as coagulant, the majority of residual Al existed in dissolved form (about 31.14-70.16%), and the content of DOMAl was small in the DMAl.

[Effects of Anions on Bromate Formation During Ozonation of Bromide-Containing Water].

To study the effects of common inorganic anions on bromate formation during ozonation of bromide-containing water, the effects of different mass concentrations of Cl-, HCO3-, and SO(4)2- on bromate formation were investigated in bench-scale test. The mechanisms of these three coexisting anions on bromate formation was analyzed based on the ozone decomposition, HOBr/OBr- formation, and transformation of total bromine species. Our results showed that adding of 3-150 mg.L-1 Cl- can reduce 8. 8%-25. 7% of bromate formation within 60 min. 63. 9% of bromate would be decreased by increasing SO(4)2- concentration from 0 mg.L-1 to 30 mg.L-1 within 20 min. However, more than 6. 4 times the mass concentrations of bromate were formed as HCO3- mass concentrations increased from 0 mg.L-1 to 30 mg.L-1 within 20 min. The production of bromate was slightly increased when HCO3- mass concentrations was above 30 mg.L-1. Under the condition of the same ozone dosage and reaction time, adding of Cl- and SO(4)2- will inhibit the formation of bromate during ozonation, while adding of HCOC3- significantly will increase the production of bromate.

Disinfection of bore well water with chlorine dioxide/sodium hypochlorite and hydrodynamic cavitation.

The effect of hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) on potable water disinfection of chemicals was investigated. The bore well water was introduced into HC set-up to examine the effect of HC alone and combination of HC and chemicals such as chlorine dioxide and sodium hypochlorite. The effect of inlet pressure and geometrical parameters on disinfection was studied using HC alone and the results showed that increasing inlet pressure and using more and bigger holes of orifice plates can result in a higher disinfection rates. When HC was combined with chemicals, HC can reduce the doses of the chemicals and shorten the time of disinfection. It was also found that the decrease in bacteria concentration followed a first-order kinetic model. As for the experiment of combination of HC and sodium hypochlorite for disinfection, HC not only improves the disinfection rate but also degrades natural organic matter and chloroform. Compared with only sodium hypochlorite disinfection, combined processes get higher disinfection rate and lower production of chloroform, particularly the pretreatment with HC enhances the disinfection rate by 32% and there is a simultaneous reduction in production of chloroform by 39%.

Impact of diatomite on the slightly polluted algae-containing raw water treatment process using ozone oxidation coupled with polyaluminum chloride coagulation.

The impact of adding diatomite on the treatment performance of slightly polluted algae-containing raw water using ozone pre-oxidation and polyaluminum chloride (PAC) coagulation was investigated. Results demonstrated that the addition of diatomite is advantageous due to reduction of the PAC dose (58.33%) and improvement of the removal efficiency of algae, turbidity, and dissolved organic matter (DOM) in raw water. When the ozone concentration was 1.0 mg L⁻¹ and the PAC dosage was 2.5 mg L⁻¹, the removal rates of algae, turbidity, UV254, and TOC were improved by 6.39%, 7.06%, 6.76%, and 4.03%, respectively, with the addition of 0.4 g L⁻¹ diatomite. It has been found that the DOM presented in the Pearl River raw water mainly consisted of small molecules (<1 kDa) and large ones (> 50 kDa). After adding diatomite (0.4 g L⁻¹), the additional removal of 5.77% TOC and 14.82% UV254 for small molecules (<1 kDa) of DOM, and 8.62% TOC and 7.33% UV254 for large ones (>50 kDa) could be achieved, respectively, at an ozone concentration of 1.0 mg L⁻¹ and a PAC dose of 2.5 mg L⁻¹. The growth of anabaena flos-aquae (A.F.) was observed by an atomic force microscope (AFM) before and after adding diatomite. AFM images demonstrate that diatomite may have a certain adsorption on A.F.

Comparison of coagulation performance and floc properties of a novel zirconium-glycine complex coagulant with traditional coagulants.

A new inorganic-organic hybrid material zirconium-glycine complex (ZGC) was firstly used as a coagulant in a coagulation process to treat Pearl River raw water. Its coagulation performance was compared with commonly used aluminum (Al) coagulants such as aluminum sulfate (Al2(SO4)3) and polyaluminum chloride (PAC), in terms of water quality parameters and floc properties. ZGC coagulation achieved higher removal of turbidity (93.8%) than other traditional coagulants. Charge neutralization was proven to act as a dominant mechanism during ZGC coagulation. The aggregated flocs with ZGC showed the fastest growth rate and good recovery ability compared with the other coagulants and achieved the largest floc size within 5 min. The ZGC coagulant can decrease the hydraulic retention time and increase removal efficiency.

Influential factors of formation kinetics of flocs produced by water treatment coagulants.

The growth rate and size of floc formation is of great importance in water treatment especially in coagulation process. The floc formation kinetics and the coagulation efficiency of synthetic water were investigated by using an on-line continuous optical photometric dispersion analyze and the analysis of water quality. Experimental conditions such as alum dosage, pH value for coagulation, stirring intensity and initial turbidity were extensively examined. The photometric dispersion analyze results showed that coagulation of kaolin suspensions with two coagulants (alum and polyaluminium chloride) could be taken as a two-phase process: slow and rapid growth periods. Operating conditions with higher coagulant doses, appropriate pH and average shear rate might be particularly advantageous. The rate of overall floc growth was mainly determined by a combination of hydraulic and water quality conditions such as pH and turbidity. The measurement of zeta potential indicates that polyaluminium chloride exhibited higher charge-neutralizing ability than alum and achieved lower turbidities than alum for equivalent Al dosages. Under the same operating conditions, the alum showed a higher grow rate, but with smaller floc size.

Mechanism of the Synergistic Toxicity of Malononitrile and p -Nitrobenzaldehyde with Photobacterium phosphoreum.

In this study the mechanism of synergistic toxicity between malononitrile and p -nitrobenzaldehyde was revealed by examining their toxicodynamic and toxicokinetic interactions. The investigation of the toxicodynamic interactions focused on the interactions among malononitrile, p -nitrobenzaldehyde, and luciferase, and found that malononitrile does not induce luciferase to bind p -nitrobenzaldehyde. This result suggested that the synergistic toxicity does not arise from toxicodynamic interactions. Further research on toxicokinetic interactions compared the amounts of p -nitrobenzaldehyde being transported from the water phase to the biotic phase in two circumstances--in the presence of malononitrile and in its absence. The results of this research indicated that in the presence of malononitrile, more p -nitrobenzaldehyde is transported, and it is the increased amount of p -nitrobenzaldehyde that leads to the synergistic toxicity of malononitrile and p -nitrobenzaldehyde.

Evaluation of three models for predicting newly determined octanol-water partition coefficients and mechanisms for substituted aromatic compounds.

Octanol-water partition coefficients (K(ow)) of 27 substituted aromatic compounds, including polyhalogenated aromatics, were determined. A molecular connectivity index (MCI), a theoretical linear solvation energy relationship, and a quantum chemical method were applied to model the property and study the partition mechanism. The multiple correction coefficients (r2(adj)) (> or = 0.870) and the standard errors (< or = 0.33) for log K(ow) indicated that the models were successful. Comparing the three models, the MCI method (including the nondisperse force factor) was the most satisfactory. However, the quantum chemical model based on the potential of the negative atomic charge, total energy, and molecular weight revealed that the molecular bulk properties and electrostatic interaction were the most important factors influencing the partition process.

Prediction of liquid chromatography retention factors for alpha-branched phenylsulfonyl acetates using quantum chemical descriptors.

The logarithms of retention factors normalized to a hypothetical pure water eluent (log kw) were determined on a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography(RP-HPLC) column (Li Chrosorb RP-18 column) for 20 new alpha-branched phenylsulfonyl acetates. The atomic charge method was applied to develop quantitative structure-retention relationships (QSRRs). Among the available geometric and electronic descriptors, surface area (S), ovality (O), and the charge of carboxyl group (Qoc) are significant. In the model, the contribution of surface area (S) is the greatest. The molecular mechanism of retention was demonstrated through the model. With the correlation coefficient (r2adj, adjusted for degrees of freedom) of 0.964, the standard error of 0.164 and the F-value of 170.39, the model has good predictive capacity.