FTIR evaluation of functional groups involved in the formation of haloacetic acids during the chlorination of raw water

This work investigated the formation potential of haloacetic acid (HAA) compounds in the raw water for the Bangkhen water treatment plant (Bangkok, Thailand). The resin adsorption technique (with three different types of resins, i.e. DAX-8, AG-MP-50 and WA-10) was employed to characterize the organic content in the raw water into six fractions, i.e. hydrophobic neutral (HPON), hydrophobic acid (HPOA), hydrophobic base (HPOB), hydrophilic neutral (HPIN), hydrophilic acid (HPIA) and hydrophilic base (HPIB). Hydrophilic species appeared to be the predominant organic species in this water source (approximately 60%) with the neutral fraction being the most abundant (approximately 40%). Hydrophobic species, on the other hand, played the most important role in the formation of haloacetic acids as they contributed to as much as approximately 56% of total HAA formation potential. Among the three hydrophobic species, the hydrophobic base exhibited the highest specific HAA formation with 208 μg HAAs/mg of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Each organic fraction was examined for its associated functional groups by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). The investigation of the formation of HAAs was achieved by tracking the changes in the FTIR results of the same water sample before and after the chlorination reaction. Based on the results obtained from this study, carboxylic acids, ketone, amide, amino acids and aromatic characteristic organics seemed to be the main precursors to HAA formation.