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ORGANIC CARBON REMOVAL BY ADVANCED WASTE WATER TREATMENT PROCESSES
Citation:
DeWalle, F., W. Light, AND E. Chian. ORGANIC CARBON REMOVAL BY ADVANCED WASTE WATER TREATMENT PROCESSES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-82/432 (NTIS PB84213107), 1982.
Description:
Fourteen physical-chemical processes singularly or in combination were evaluated for their ability to remove dissolved organic carbon in the effluent of a wastewater reclamation facility treating secondary effluent. The objective of the study was to produce a product water with organic content sufficiently low to permit reuse as potable water. The processes included reverse osmosis (RO), ion exchange/resin adsorption, ultraviolet irradiation (UV) and six chemical oxidants evaluated alone or in combination with other processes. The comprehensive data generated by the present study indicate that low organic carbon removals in AWT effluent are achieved by ion-exchange/adsorption processes possibly because preceding activated carbon has removed most of the adsorbable fulvic-like materials. Among the six oxidants evaluated, only ozone and hydrogen peroxide resulted in substantial removals. The largest organic carbon removals were observed with reverse osmosis at an 85% permeate recovery. An economic analysis indicated that annual RO operating costs were comparable to ozone/UV while producing a better effluent quality.