Spectroscopic characterisation of dissolved organic matter changes in drinking water treatment: From PARAFAC analysis to online monitoring wavelengths

Yulia Shutova; Andy Baker; John Bridgeman; Rita K Henderson

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2014.01.053

Spectroscopic characterisation of dissolved organic matter changes in drinking water treatment: From PARAFAC analysis to online monitoring wavelengths

Water Res. 2014 May 1:54:159-69. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2014.01.053. Epub 2014 Feb 7.

Authors

Yulia Shutova¹, Andy Baker², John Bridgeman³, Rita K Henderson⁴

Affiliations

¹ UNSW Water Research Centre, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
² Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
³ School of Civil Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
⁴ UNSW Water Research Centre, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia; School of Chemical Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia. Electronic address: r.henderson@unsw.edu.au.

PMID: 24568785
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2014.01.053

Abstract

Organic matter (OM) causes many problems in drinking water treatment. It is difficult to monitor OM concentrations and character during treatment processes due to its complexity. Fluorescence spectroscopy is a promising tool for online monitoring. In this study, a unique dataset of fluorescence excitation emission matrixes (EEMs) (n = 867) was collected from all treatment stages of five drinking water treatment plants (WTPs) situated in diverse locations from subtropical to temperate climate. The WTPs incorporated various water sources, treatment processes and OM removal efficiencies (DOC removal 0%-68%). Despite these differences, four common fluorescence PARAFAC components were identified for characterisation of OM concentration and treatability. Moreover, fluorescence component ratios showed site-specific statistically significant correlations with OM removal, which contrasted with correlations between specific UV absorbance at 254 nm (SUVA) and OM removal that were not statistically significant. This indicates that use of fluorescence spectroscopy may be a more robust alternative for predicting DOC removal than UV spectroscopy. Based on the identified fluorescence components, four optical locations were selected in order to move towards single wavelength online OM monitoring.

Keywords: Coagulation; Dissolved organic carbon; Drinking water treatment; Fluorescence excitation emission matrix (FEEM); SUVA.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Australia
Carbon / analysis
Drinking Water / chemistry*
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Light*
Online Systems*
Organic Chemicals / analysis*
Organic Chemicals / isolation & purification
Spectrometry, Fluorescence
Statistics, Nonparametric
Water Purification / methods*

Substances

Drinking Water
Organic Chemicals
Carbon