Moderate pre-ozonation coupled with a post-peroxone process remove filamentous cyanobacteria and 2-MIB efficiently: From bench to pilot-scale study

The increasing frequency and intensity of taste- and odour-producing cyanobacteria in water sources is a growing global issue. Odour events caused by 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB) mainly arising from filamentous cyanobacteria have been a very common problem in water supply. Removal rates of filamentous cyanobacteria and 2-MIB by conventional water treatment, such as coagulation, and disinfection treatment processes is low. Hence, a moderate pre-ozonation of cyanobacteria (with little cell damage) was proposed in this study as an enhanced coagulation step to remove filamentous cyanobacteria and intracellular 2-MIB effectively, while avoiding the release of intracellular 2-MIB. A post-peroxone (O₃/H₂O₂) process was applied after sand filtration to degrade the residual dissolved 2-MIB. Results show that moderate pre-ozonation (0.2 mg/L O₃ oxidation for 20 min) can substantially enhance the coagulation efficiency for algae, with low cell lysis and high cell viability. Furthermore, 2.0 mg/L O₃ combined with 2.0 mg/L H₂O₂ can degrade the residual dissolved 2-MIB nearly 100% after 20 min reaction. Based on the optimal dosages, a 0.6 m³/h pilot system, including pre-ozonation, coagulation and sedimentation, sand filtration, and post-peroxone processes, was continuously run for 14 days, and it was found that the proposed process can effectively and stably remove filamentous cyanobacteria and 2-MIB.

A critical review on geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol in water: sources, effects, detection, and removal techniques

The exposure to geosmin (GSM) and 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB) in water has caused a negative impact on product reputation and customer distrust. The occurrence of these compounds and their metabolites during drinking water treatment processes has caused different health challenges. Conventional treatment techniques such as coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, and chlorination employed in removing these two commonest taste and odor compounds (GSM and 2-MIB) were found to be ineffective and inherent shortcomings. The removal of GSM and MIB were found to be effective using combination of activated carbon and ozonation; however, high treatment cost associated with ozonation technique and poor regeneration efficiency of activated carbon constitute serious setback to the combined system. Other shortcoming of the activated carbon adsorption and ozonation include low adsorption efficiency due to the presence of natural organic matter and humic acid. In light of this background, the review is focused on the sources, effects, environmental pathways, detection, and removal techniques of 2-MIB and GSM from aqueous media. Although advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) were found to be promising to remove the two compounds from water but accompanied with different challenges. Herein, to fill the knowledge gap analysis on these algal metabolites (GSM and 2-MIB), the integration of treatment processes vis-a-viz combination of one or more AOPs with other conventional methods are considered logical to remove these odorous compounds and hence could improve overall water quality.

Comparison of methylisoborneol and geosmin abatement in surface water by conventional ozonation and an electro-peroxone process

In this study methylisoborneol (MIB) and geosmin abatement in a surface water by conventional ozonation and the electro-peroxone (E-peroxone) process was compared. Batch tests with addition of ozone (O₃) stock solutions and semi-batch tests with continuous O₂/O₃ gas sparging (simulating real ozone contactors) were conducted to investigate O₃ decomposition, •OH production, MIB and geosmin abatement, and bromate formation during the two processes. Results show that with specific ozone doses typically used in routine drinking water treatment (0.5-1.0 mg O₃/mg dissolved organic carbon (DOC)), conventional ozonation could not adequately abate MIB and geosmin in a surface water. While increasing the specific ozone doses (1.0-2.5 mg O₃/mg DOC) could enhance MIB and geosmin abatement by conventional ozonation, this approach resulted in significant bromate formation. By installing a carbon-based cathode to electrochemically produce H₂O₂ from cathodic oxygen reduction, conventional ozonation can be conveniently upgraded to an E-peroxone process. The electro-generated H₂O₂ considerably enhanced the kinetics and to a lesser extent the yields of hydroxyl radical (•OH) from O₃ decomposition. Consequently, during the E-peroxone process, abatement of MIB and geosmin occurred at much higher rates than during conventional ozonation. In addition, for a given specific ozone dose, the MIB and geosmin abatement efficiencies increased moderately in the E-peroxone (by ∼8-9% and ∼10-25% in the batch and semi-batch tests, respectively) with significantly lower bromate formation compared to conventional ozonation. These results suggest that the E-peroxone process may serve as an attractive backup of conventional ozonation processes during accidental spills or seasonal events such as algal blooms when high ozone doses are required to enhance MIB and geosmin abatement.

Simultaneous removal of multiple odorants from source water suffering from septic and musty odors: Verification in a full-scale water treatment plant with ozonation

Ozonation is known to be very effective in the removal of odorants from source water. However, it is not known if ozonation is effective in the removal of multiple odorants causing different types of odors. In this study, the removal performance for odors and odorants were evaluated in a Water Treatment Plant (WTP), which was equipped with coagulation, sedimentation, ozonation, biological activated carbon (BAC) filtration, sand filtration, and chlorination in succession and located in the downstream of the Huangpu (HP) River, over the period from April, 2014 to April, 2015. Flavor profile analysis (FPA) results showed that the source water was constantly associated with septic and musty odors. Geosmin and 2-MIB, with an average OAV of 4.54 and 1.38, respectively, were the major odorants for musty odor, while bis(2-chloroisopropyl) ether, DEDS and DMDS with an average OAV of 2.35, 1.65 and 0.78, respectively, might be responsible for the septic odor. While the musty odor could be removed effectively through the combination of ozonation and BAC, the septic odor and associated odorants required further treatment with sand filtration and chlorination for complete removal. It is clear that the advanced treatment process was effective for the treatment of source water containing complicated odorants. It should be noted that the sedimentation process needs careful management because release of odorants may occur during the treatment. The result of this study will be helpful for the mitigation of odors in WTP using source waters suffering from complicated odor problems.

A review on advanced oxidation processes for the removal of taste and odor compounds from aqueous media

In view of the global concern about the occurrence of taste and odor (T&O) compounds in waters for drinking water supply and the necessity for the development of more innovative and efficient technologies for water treatment and depuration, the focus of this study is to provide a state of the art overview on current knowledge for the application of advanced oxidation technologies for the treatment of T&O compounds in aquatic media. The most representative and newly emerging compounds belonging to the major groups of T&O compounds, such as geosmin, methylisoborneol, benzothiazoles, mercaptans and sulfides as well as aromatic and other miscellaneous T&O compounds, are included in the systematic overview. The current data has been compiled and extensively discussed in terms of the degree of degradation, reaction kinetics, effect of operational parameters and water quality, identity of intermediate and final products and possible transformation pathways.