The characters of dissolved organic matters from litter-mimic with the different humification states and their effects on drinking water treatment processes

Abstract

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is one kind of the main pollutant in surface water that will cause many problems during drinking water treatment processes. In this study, a simulated humification process of forest litter-mimic was investigated for eight weeks continuously to study the variations in chemical properties such as DOM composition, polysaccharide/protein ratio, average molecular weight, oxidation degree, hydrophilicity, etc., as well as the impact of these variations on the coagulation, ultra-/nanofiltration (UF/NF). Results showed that the removal rate of coagulation (from 67.5 % to 37.0 %) and UF (from 14.4 % to 5.8 %) decreased significantly during the humification process as a function of time, while the removal rate of NF increased from 40.0 % to 72.9 % at first, and then decreased to 47.4 %. This study gave a deep insight into the effect of DOM with different humification ages on the drinking water treatment process with the influence of seasons and vegetation around the water source, which finally aimed to improve drinking water treatment.

Keywords: Coagulation; Dissolved organic matters; Humification; Litter-mimic; Membrane fouling.