Integrated Disinfection By-Products Mixtures Research: Concentration by Reverse Osmosis Membrane Techniques of Disinfection By-Products from Water Disinfected by Chlorination and Ozonation/Postchlorination

Abstract

To conduct the health-effect studies described in subsequent articles in this series, concentrated aqueous mixtures of disinfection by-products were required for the two water treatment trains described in the preceding article (Miltner et al., 2008). To accomplish this, the finished drinking waters from each treatment train were sent through cation-exchange resin columns to remove hardness and free chlorine. Reverse osmosis membranes were then used to concentrate approximately 2400 L of each finished water down to approximately 18 L. The resulting volumetric concentration factors for the chlorinated and ozonated/postchlorinated waters were 136- and 124-fold, respectively. The concentrates were spiked with select disinfection by-products (DBPs) that were lost during the concentration effort. The results, along with the rationale for choosing the method of concentration, are presented. After reintroduction of a select list of lost DBPs, the concentration methodology used herein was able to produce concentrates that retained large percentages of the DBPs that were in the initial finished drinking waters. Further, the distributions of the DBPs in the concentrates matched those found in the finished drinking waters.

The authors acknowledge Rhonda Baker, Stephanie Brown, Raymond Hauck, Keith Kelty, Maura Lilly, Matthew Magnuson, Deborah McDonald, Christopher Parrett, Craig Patterson, Paul Ringhand, and Edward Urbansky for helping with the production, analytics, or data manipulation for the project. Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official positions and policies of the U.S. EPA. Any mention of products or trade names does not constitute recommendation for use by the U.S. EPA.