Kinetics of Natural Organic Matter as the Initiator, Promoter, and Inhibitor, and Their Influences on the Removal of Ibuprofen in Ozonation

Abstract

Natural organic matter (NOM) can simultaneously act as the initiator, promoter and inhibitor in water ozonation. This study presents an explicit method that can be used to determine these rate constants via the integration of the transient steady-state hydroxyl radical (•OH) model, the R_ct concept and the pseudo first-order ozone decomposition model. The theoretical background of this method was provided, and the method was validated with model compounds. The rate constants of three NOM isolates were determined using the developed method. With these rate constants, the influences of NOM on the degradation of ibuprofen, an •OH-reactive pharmaceutical compound, can be quantitatively described. [Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Ozone Science & Engineering for the following free supplemental resources: tables, figures, and equations.]

Keywords:

• Ozone
• Decomposition Kinetics
• Natural Organic Matter
• Initiator
• Promoter
• Inhibitor
• Ibuprofen

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

E.L. Yong would like to thank NUS for providing scholarship for her study. Y.P. Lin would like to thank Dr. Bill Glaze (UNC-Chapel Hill) for his early encouragement and inspiration on the concept presented in this work.