Swimming pool water treatment with conventional and alternative water treatment technologies

To mitigate microbial activity in swimming pools and to assure hygienic safety for bathers, pool systems have a re-circulating water system ensuring continuous water treatment and disinfection by chlorination. A major drawback associated with the use of chlorine as disinfectant is its potential to react with organic matter (OM) present in pool water to form potentially harmful disinfection by-products (DBP). In this thesis, the treatment performance of different combinations of conventional and novel treatment processes was compared using a pilot scale swimming pool model that was operated under reproducible and fully controlled conditions. The quality of the pool water was determined in means of volatile DBPs and the concentration and composition of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Further, overall apparent reaction rates for the removal of monochloramine (MCA), a DBP found in pool water, in granular activated carbon (GAC) beds were determined using a fixed-bed reactor system operated under conditions typical for swimming pool water treatment. The reaction rates as well as the type of reaction products formed were correlated with physico-chemical properties of the tested GACs

Swimming pool water treatment with conventional and alternative water treatment technologies

To mitigate microbial activity in swimming pools and to assure hygienic safety for bathers, pool systems have a re-circulating water system ensuring continuous water treatment and disinfection by chlorination. A major drawback associated with the use of chlorine as disinfectant is its potential to react with organic matter (OM) present in pool water to form potentially harmful disinfection by-products (DBP). In this thesis, the treatment performance of different combinations of conventional and novel treatment processes was compared using a pilot scale swimming pool model that was operated under reproducible and fully controlled conditions. The quality of the pool water was determined in means of volatile DBPs and the concentration and composition of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Further, overall apparent reaction rates for the removal of monochloramine (MCA), a DBP found in pool water, in granular activated carbon (GAC) beds were determined using a fixed-bed reactor system operated under conditions typical for swimming pool water treatment. The reaction rates as well as the type of reaction products formed were correlated with physico-chemical properties of the tested GACs

Swimming pool water treatment with conventional and alternative water treatment technologies

To mitigate microbial activity in swimming pools and to assure hygienic safety for bathers, pool systems have a re-circulating water system ensuring continuous water treatment and disinfection by chlorination. A major drawback associated with the use of chlorine as disinfectant is its potential to react with organic matter (OM) present in pool water to form potentially harmful disinfection by-products (DBP). In this thesis, the treatment performance of different combinations of conventional and novel treatment processes was compared using a pilot scale swimming pool model that was operated under reproducible and fully controlled conditions. The quality of the pool water was determined in means of volatile DBPs and the concentration and composition of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Further, overall apparent reaction rates for the removal of monochloramine (MCA), a DBP found in pool water, in granular activated carbon (GAC) beds were determined using a fixed-bed reactor system operated under conditions typical for swimming pool water treatment. The reaction rates as well as the type of reaction products formed were correlated with physico-chemical properties of the tested GACs

Pore diffusion limits removal of monochloramine in treatment of swimming pool water using granular activated carbon

Overall apparent reaction rates for the removal of monochloramine (MCA) in granular activated carbon (GAC) beds were determined using a fixed-bed reactor system and under conditions typical for swimming pool water treatment. Reaction rates dropped and quasi-stationary conditions were reached quickly. Diffusional mass transport in the pores was shown to be limiting the overall reaction rate. This was reflected consistently in the Thiele modulus, in the effect of temperature, pore size distribution and of grain size on the reaction rates. Pores <2.5 times the diameter of the monochloramine molecule were shown to be barely accessible for the monochloramine conversion reaction. GACs with a significant proportion of large mesopores were found to have the highest overall reactivity for monochloramine removal.acceptedVersio

N2 yields from monochloramine conversion by granular activated carbons are decisive for effective swimming pool water treatment

Inorganic chloramines (mono-, di- and trichloramine) are formed in swimming pool water from the unintended reaction of free chlorine with ammonia that is introduced by bathers. Monochloramine is of particular interest as it is known to react further in pool water forming harmful DBPs, such carcinogenic N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). During pool water treatment with granular activated carbon (GAC) filters, monochloramine is transformed by chemical reactions on the carbon surface to N2 and ammonia. As ammonia is led back into the pool where it is chlorinated again under the renewed formation of inorganic chloramines, it is recommended to use GACs with a high N2 yield for monochloramine transformation in pool water treatment. In this study, yields of N2 and ammonia from monochloramine conversion by commercially available GACs were determined using a fixed-bed reactor system under conditions that are typical for swimming pool water treatment. The N2 yields remained constant with on-going exposure of the GAC to monochloramine and ranged from 0.5% to 21.3%, depending on the type of GAC used. Correlation analyses were conducted to identify carbon properties that can determine the N2 yield for monochloramine conversion, such as the amount of oxygen groups, the elemental composition and the trace metal content. It was found that the N2 yield significantly correlates with the copper content of the tested carbons. Model calculations combining pool hydraulics with formation/abatement of inorganic chloramines and NDMA as well as chloramine transformations in GAC filters showed that the concentration of inorganic chloramines and carcinogenic NDMA can be decreased by a factor of ∼2, if the tested GACs could be modified to convert up to ∼50 % of the monochloramine to N2

Reducing the Impacts of Biofouling in RO Membrane Systems through In Situ Low Fluence Irradiation Employing UVC-LEDs

Biofouling is a major concern for numerous reverse osmosis membrane systems. UV pretreatment of the feed stream showed promising results but is still not an established technology as it does not maintain a residual effect. By conducting accelerated biofouling experiments in this study, it was investigated whether low fluence UV in situ treatment of the feed using UVC light-emitting diodes (UVC-LEDs) has a lasting effect on the biofilm. The application of UVC-LEDs for biofouling control is a novel hybrid technology that has not been investigated, yet. It could be shown that a low fluence of 2 mJ∙cm&minus;2 delays biofilm formation by more than 15% in lab-scale experiments. In addition, biofilms at the same feed channel pressure drop exhibited a more than 40% reduced hydraulic resistance. The delay is probably linked to the inactivation of cells in the feed stream, modified adsorption properties or an induced cell cycle arrest. The altered hydraulic resistance might be caused by a change in the microbial community, as well as reduced adenosine triphosphate levels per cells, possibly impacting quorum sensing and extracellular polymeric substances production. Due to the observed biofilm attributes, low fluence UV-LED in situ treatment of the feed stream seems to be a promising technology for biofouling control

Rejection of micron-sized particles using beech wood xylem

The rejection of micron-sized particles mimicking the size of microorganisms responsible for waterborne diseases (such as protozoans) by filters made of wood tissue has been investigated in a dead-end filtration setup. The permeability reached up to 12 000 L m−2 h−1 per bar but a great variability has been observed for the wood filters. The swelling of the samples has been found to be the reason for the drop in permeability over long-term experiments (8 h). After drying the filter for 24 h at 65 °C, the initial permeability could be recovered, hence, this behaviour is reversible. The surrogates used in this study have a size of 5 and 20 μm and their electrostatic properties exclude potential electrostatic interactions. Hence, the removal of the particles occurs only through physical sieving. Microscopy investigations suggest that the surface of the wood as well as anatomical features, such as perforations, contribute to the removal of the particles. The log-removal value (LRV) of the filter depended on the size of the surrogates. In addition, the formation of a filter cake increased the LRV over time for both particle sizes used in this study. A prediction of the LRV has been calculated based on the pore size distribution of the filter rendered by image analysis. The results of the prediction are in accordance with the experimental observations.ISSN:2053-1400ISSN:2053-141