scholarly journals Behavior of TiO2 and CeO2 Nanoparticles and Polystyrene Nanoplastics in Bottled Mineral, Drinking and Lake Geneva Waters. Impact of Water Hardness and Natural Organic Matter on Nanoparticle Surface Properties and Aggregation

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 721 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lina Ramirez ◽  
Stephan Ramseier Gentile ◽  
Stéphane Zimmermann ◽  
Serge Stoll

Intensive use of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) in daily products ineluctably results in their release into aquatic systems and consequently into drinking water resources. Therefore, understanding NPs behavior in various waters from naturel to mineral waters is crucial for risk assessment evaluation and the efficient removal of NPs during the drinking water treatment process. In this study, the impact of relevant physicochemical parameters, such as pH, water hardness, and presence of natural organic matter (NOM) on the surface charge properties and aggregation abilities of both NPs and nanoplastic particles is investigated. TiO2, CeO2, and Polystyrene (PS) nanoplastics are selected, owing to their large number applications and contrasting characteristics at environmental pH. Experiments are performed in different water samples, including, ultrapure water, three bottled mineral waters, Lake Geneva, and drinking water produced from Lake Geneva. Our findings demonstrate that both water hardness and negatively charged natural organic matter concentrations, which were measured via dissolved organic carbon determination, are playing important roles. At environmental pH, when negatively charged nanoparticles are considered, specific cation adsorption is promoting aggregation so long as NOM concentration is limited. On the other hand, NOM adsorption is expected to be a key process in NPs destabilization when positively charged PS nanoplastics are considered.

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Grefte ◽  
M. Dignum ◽  
E. R. Cornelissen ◽  
L. C. Rietveld

Abstract. To guarantee a good water quality at the customers tap, natural organic matter (NOM) should be (partly) removed during drinking water treatment. The objective of this research was to improve the biological stability of the produced water by incorporating anion exchange (IEX) for NOM removal. Different placement positions of IEX in the treatment lane (IEX positioned before coagulation, before ozonation or after slow sand filtration) and two IEX configurations (MIEX® and fluidized IEX (FIX)) were compared on water quality as well as costs. For this purpose the pre-treatment plant at Loenderveen and production plant Weesperkarspel of Waternet were used as a case study. Both, MIEX® and FIX were able to remove NOM (mainly the HS fraction) to a high extent. NOM removal can be done efficiently before ozonation and after slow sand filtration. The biological stability, in terms of assimilable organic carbon, biofilm formation rate and dissolved organic carbon, was improved by incorporating IEX for NOM removal. The operational costs were assumed to be directly dependent of the NOM removal rate and determined the difference between the IEX positions. The total costs for IEX for the three positions were approximately equal (0.0631 € m−3), however the savings on following treatment processes caused a cost reduction for the IEX positions before coagulation and before ozonation compared to IEX positioned after slow sand filtration. IEX positioned before ozonation was most cost effective and improved the biological stability of the treated water.


2005 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Z. Wang ◽  
R. S. Summers

Natural organic matter (NOM) in drinking water is a complex mixture of organic compounds. Some of the compounds are not biodegradable, while others are quickly biodegradable and a third group is more resistant to biodegradation. To have a better understanding of the biofiltration process in drinking water treatment, it is important to identify the elements of the quickly and slowly biodegradable NOM and to characterize the biodegradation rate of each element. In this study, an ozonated NOM solution was used as the substrate. The NOM was isolated from a groundwater in Germany using ion-exchange resins. The ozone dose was 0.35 mg O3/mg DOC (dissolved organic carbon). Previously bioacclimated sand was used as filter media and biomass source and was homogeneously distributed in the filter prior to each run. The substrate removal was evaluated by DOC, biodegradable DOC (BDOC), assimilable organic carbon (AOC), aldehyde and ketoacid analyses. When expressed in terms of the empty bed contact time (EBCT), the results showed that filter velocity in the range of 1.5 to 15 m/hr had no impact on substrate removal. This implies that substrate utilization, not external mass transfer, is the rate limiting step for substrate removal in drinking water biofilters. In this study, compounds or NOM fractions are termed quickly biodegradable if they are removed in the first three minutes of EBCT. 15% of the DOC was removed by the biofilter within three minutes of EBCT and was termed the quickly biodegradable fraction. The BDOC fraction of the ozonated solution was determined to be 40 to 45% of the DOC. In terms of BDOC, about one third of the total BDOC was quickly biodegradable. The AOC results show that about 90% of the total AOC was utilized by Spirillum sp. NOX (AOC-NOX). Most of the AOC was quickly biodegradable and was removed within one minute of EBCT. For aldehydes, glyoxal and methyl glyoxal were removed to below the detection limit after two minutes of EBCT. However, only 60% of formaldehyde removal was achieved in the first two minutes of EBCT, and no additional removal was achieved with increasing EBCT. Additionally, no significant removal of acetaldehyde was observed. The results of ketoacids show that their utilization rates were very high. More than 90% of glyoxylic acid and pyruvic acid were removed within one minute of EBCT.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 668-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Q. Zhao ◽  
C. P. Huang ◽  
S. Y. Chen ◽  
D. S. Wang ◽  
T. Li ◽  
...  

Natural organic matter (NOM) plays a significant role in the fouling of ultrafiltration membranes in drinking water treatment processes. For a better understanding of the interaction between fractional components of NOM and polysulfone (PS) ultrafiltration membranes used for drinking water treatment, fouling and especially the physically irreversible fouling of natural organic matter were investigated. Resin fractionation, fluorescence excitation–emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), contact angle and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) were employed to identify the potential foulants. The results showed that humic acid and fulvic acid of small size were likely to permeate the membrane, while the hydrophobic fraction of humic and fulvic acid and aromatic proteins tended to be rejected and retained. Organic compounds such as proteins, humic substances, and polysaccharide-like materials, were all detected in the fouling layer. The physically irreversible fouling of the PS membrane seemed to be mainly attributed to the hydrophobic fraction of humic substances.


2010 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 1041-1048 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederik Hammes ◽  
Nico Boon ◽  
Marius Vital ◽  
Petra Ross ◽  
Aleksandra Magic-Knezev ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTPellet softening reactors are used in centralized and decentralized drinking water treatment plants for the removal of calcium (hardness) through chemically induced precipitation of calcite. This is accomplished in fluidized pellet reactors, where a strong base is added to the influent to increase the pH and facilitate the process of precipitation on an added seeding material. Here we describe for the first time the opportunistic bacterial colonization of the calcite pellets in a full-scale pellet softening reactor and the functional contribution of these colonizing bacteria to the overall drinking water treatment process. ATP analysis, advanced microscopy, and community fingerprinting with denaturing gradient gel electrophoretic (DGGE) analysis were used to characterize the biomass on the pellets, while assimilable organic carbon (AOC), dissolved organic carbon, and flow cytometric analysis were used to characterize the impact of the biological processes on drinking water quality. The data revealed pellet colonization at concentrations in excess of 500 ng of ATP/g of pellet and reactor biomass concentrations as high as 220 mg of ATP/m3of reactor, comprising a wide variety of different microorganisms. These organisms removed as much as 60% of AOC from the water during treatment, thus contributing toward the biological stabilization of the drinking water. Notably, only a small fraction (about 60,000 cells/ml) of the bacteria in the reactors was released into the effluent under normal conditions, while the majority of the bacteria colonizing the pellets were captured in the calcite structures of the pellets and were removed as a reusable product.


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