Formation potentials of typical disinfection byproducts and changes of genotoxicity for chlorinated tertiary effluent pretreated by ozone

The effects of ozonation on the formation potential of typical disinfection byproducts (DBPs) and the changes of genotoxicity during post chlorination of tertiary effluent from a sewage treatment plant were investigated. Ozonation enhanced the yields of all detected chlorine DBPs except CHCl3. At a chlorine dose of 5 mg/L, the three brominated THMs and five HAAs increased, while chloroform decreased with the increase of ozone dose from 0 to 10 mg/L (ozone dose in consumption base). At a chlorine dose of 10 mg/L, the two mixed bromochloro species THMs and two dominant HAAs (DCAA and TCAA) increased firstly and then decreased with the increase of ozone dose, with the turning point approximately occurring at an ozone dose of 5 mg/L. The genotoxicity detected using umu test, on the other hand, was removed from 7 μg 4-NQO/L to a negligible level by ozonation under an ozone dose of 5 mg/L. Chlorination could further remove the genotoxicity to some extent. It was found that SUVA (UV absorbance divided by DOC concentration) might be used as an indicative parameter for monitoring the removal of genotoxicity during the oxidation.