Assessing the performance of coral reef-like floc towards the removal of low molecular weight organic contaminant

Application of laminarin as a novel coagulant aid to improve coagulation-ultrafiltration efficiency

Polyacrylamide (PAM) is the most commonly used coagulant aid in coagulation-ultrafiltration (C-UF) systems; however, its hydrolyzed monomer is harmful to the human nervous system. In this study, laminarin (LA), was extracted from Laminaria japonica and used as a novel coagulant aid to improve coagulation efficiency and reduce membrane fouling during the C-UF process. Optimal LA usage conditions were systematically examined and compared with those of PAM to evaluate their potential for industrial applications. The results revealed that coagulation efficiency could be enhanced by 15-35% with moderate LA addition, which exhibited comparable aid effects to PAM. LA exhibited the highest coagulation aid effect at pH 8-9, and under this condition, turbidity and natural organic matter (NOM) removal achieved 82% and 54%, respectively. Compared with a one-time LA dosing strategy, the pollutant removal capacity of batch dosing was superior. Even in lower water temperatures (5-15 °C), coagulation efficiency was still satisfied, which exhibited a good practical application perspective. The coagulation aid role of LA should be attributed to its long-chain molecular structure, which enhances the bridging role between micro flocs and assists floc growth, thus facilitating the formation of large flocs. In addition, LA adsorption on floc surface was conducive to the direct electrostatic repulsion effect of electronegative membrane, which resulted in a more porous cake layer and higher membrane flux. Therefore, LA exhibits excellent application potential for eliminating NOM while simultaneously reducing membrane fouling through the C-UF process.

Unraveling the over-oxidation inhibition mechanism during the hybrid ozonation-coagulation process: Immediate entrapment and complexation between intermediate organic matter and coagulants

Pre-ozonation coagulation process had a very low and narrow range of ozone dosages for enhancing the dissolved organic matter (DOC) removal efficiency, in which over-oxidation may occur if the ozone dosage was not strictly controlled. In contrast, the proposed hybrid ozonation-coagulation (HOC) process with higher oxidation ability notably inhibited over-oxidation in this study, and exhibited improved DOC removal efficiency compared with coagulation at a much wider range of ozone dosages at different initial pH for the treatment of WWTP effluent. The HOC process also had a higher DOC removal efficiency than pre-ozonation coagulation. According to zeta potential analysis, a rising trend indicated that complexation between organic matter and metal coagulants persisted throughout the HOC process. However, the zeta potential remained almost unchanged during subsequent coagulation after pre-ozonation at high ozone dosages. Synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy analysis revealed that immediate entrapment and complexation between hydrolysed coagulants and oxidized intermediate organic matter occurred in the HOC process. Furthermore, FT-IR analysis showed that more oxygen-containing functional groups were generated, which were effectively trapped by metal coagulants and readily flocculated. To further prove the immediate entrapment and complexation during the HOC process, UPLC-Q-TOF-MS was applied to analyze the intermediate organic matter in the supernatant and flocs. The results implied that C21- organic matter was oxidized and decomposed into C11-C20, and C11-C20 intermediate organic matter was trapped and complexed by metal coagulants once formed, which led to the increase of C11-C20 in the flocs. Nevertheless, the catalytic ozonation process (γ-Al₂O₃/O₃) with the same oxidation ability as the HOC process decomposed the organic matter into C1-C10. XPS analysis further confirmed the immediate entrapment and removal of aliphatic/aromatic carbon and oxygen-containing functional groups during the HOC process. Therefore, over-oxidation can be effectively inhibited, and wide range of ozone dosages was obtained during the HOC process, which facilitate the application of the HOC process.