Adsorptive ozonation of 2-methylisoborneol in natural water with preventing bromate formation

This paper presents an application of our newly developed adsorptive ozonation process using a high silica zeolite adsorbent (USY) for drinking water treatment. First, the adsorption of 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB) on USY in a river water/pure water mixture was clarified by a batch-type adsorption experiment. The results showed that 2-MIB was adsorbed on USY; however, almost all of the adsorbed 2-MIB was desorbed over time. The desorption rate was increased with the ratio of river water to pure water, indicating that compounds dissolved in the river water, such as natural organic matter (NOM), prevent the adsorption of 2-MIB on USY. Second, the ability of the river water to consume ozone was confirmed in an experiment using a USY-packed column reactor. The ozone consumption was obviously increased by the presence of USY, indicating that USY-adsorbing compounds dissolved in the river water (probably small size NOM) consumed the ozone. However, the rapid ozone consumption was occurred by 6–8 s in the retention times when 3.14–4.38 mg L−1 of water dissolved ozone was fed, this rapid ozone consumption lasted no more than these times. This result revealed that the rapid consumption of ozone by the adsorptive compounds in our process could be avoided within a certain retention time (6–8 s; especially for the river water used in this study) when enough concentration of ozone (3.14 mg L−1 or more; same above) was supplied. We therefore performed a trial in which 2-MIB dissolved in river water was continuously decomposed using a USY-packed column with various ozone concentrations. In the process, the adsorptive compound dissolved in the river water adsorbed and reacted with ozone in the parts of the apparatus upstream of the column, while the adsorption and decomposition of 2-MIB took place in the parts of the apparatus downstream of the column. This resulted in a sufficient 2-MIB decomposition with minimizing bromate ion formation.