Effects of pre-ozonation on the removal of THM precursors by coagulation

Pre-ozonation in combination with enhanced coagulation was used to remove NOM from lake water as to control the formation of disinfection by-products, DBPs. The effect of the hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity nature of NOM on the performance of the combined pre-ozonation and coagulation process was studied. The hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity property of NOM was characterized in terms of mass distribution of the phydrophilic and the hydrophobilic fractions of NOM. The optimal condition for the combined pre-ozonation–coagulation was established: pH = ca. 9.0 and ozone dose = 0.45 mg-O3/mg-DOC. Under the optimal condition, it was able to achieve ∼ 60% of THMFP removal. In terms of THMPF, results also indicated that the distribution between the hydrophilic and the hydrophobic fractions of NOM was 57.3 and 98.7 µg-THMFP/mg-DOC, respectively. Ozonation alters the structures and characteristics of NOM thereby affecting the coagulation effectiveness. Pre-ozonation was effective in removing the hydrophobic NOM, with a decrease of THMFP by ∼ 20% versus ∼ 10% for the hydrophilic fraction. The dosage of coagulant also governed DOC removal. The removal of hydrophobic and hydrophilic NOM were in the range of 27–41 and 2.5–22.7%, respectively at alum dosage of 0.41–1.65 (in Al/DOC) and 0.41–1.65 (in Al/DOC) and ozone dose of 0.58–2.93, mg/mg respectively. The adsorption characteristics of the hydrophilic and the hydrophobic fractions of NOM on aluminum hydroxide (from coagulant alum) were studied. Results indicated that the modified Langmuir isotherm of competitive adsorption was able to describe the adsorption of NOM onto hydrous aluminum hydroxide formed during alum coagulation of the lake waters.