Trihalomethane treatment using gamma irradiation: kinetic modeling of single solute and mixtures

Gamma rays-induced decontamination of four trihalomethanes (THMs) in distilled water has been investigated. The destruction of each of the THMs (chloroform, bromodichloromethane, chlorodibromomethane and bromoform) was studied individually as well as in the form of mixture of all four solutes in water starting with different concentrations. A kinetic model (MAKSIMA-CHEMIST) with some modification was applied using some recently determined bimolecular rate constants to predict the decay of contaminants individually and in the mixture. It is found that for decay of each individual contaminant in water, results of improved model agree very well with the experimental results. The model also predicts the decay of THMs in mixture form but the model needs further improvements.