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Ozonation effects on emerging micropollutants and effluent organic matter in wastewater: characterization using changes of three-dimensional HP-SEC and EEM fluorescence data

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Abstract

The degradation of effluent organic matter (EfOM) in a municipal wastewater treated by ozonation was characterized using the methods of high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HP-SEC) and excitation/emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence combined with parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). The removal of 40 diverse trace-level contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) present in the wastewater was determined as well. Ozonation caused a rapid decrease of the absorbance and fluorescence of the wastewater, which was associated primarily with the oxidation of high and low apparent molecular weight (AMW) EfOM fractions. PARAFAC analysis also showed that components C1 and C2 decreased prominently in these conditions. The EfOM fraction of intermediate molecular weight ascribable to a terrestrial humic-like component (C3) tended to be less reactive toward ozone. Relative changes of EEM fluorescence were quantified using F max values of PARAFAC-identified components (∆F/F 0 max). Unambiguous relationships between ∆F/F 0 max values and the extent of the degradation of the examined CECs (∆C/C0) were established. This allowed correlating main parameters of the ∆C/C0 vs. ∆F/F 0 max relationships with the rates of oxidation of these CECs. The results demonstrate the potential of online measurements of EEM fluorescence for quantitating effects of ozonation on EfOM and micropollutants in wastewater effluents.

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Acknowledgments

Support for this research is provided by Nature Science Foundation of China (41301549 and 41471268). The authors appreciate Drs. Venkat Nanaboina and Wei Li for their contributions in analytical work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Mountain Surface Processes and Ecological Regulation, Institute of Mountain Hazards & Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Chen Liu & Xiangyu Tang

  2. College of Environmental Science & Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Penghui Li

  3. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195-2700, USA

    Gregory V. Korshin

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  1. Chen Liu
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  2. Penghui Li
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  3. Xiangyu Tang
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  4. Gregory V. Korshin
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Correspondence to Xiangyu Tang.

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Responsible editor: Vítor Pais Vilar

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Liu, C., Li, P., Tang, X. et al. Ozonation effects on emerging micropollutants and effluent organic matter in wastewater: characterization using changes of three-dimensional HP-SEC and EEM fluorescence data. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 20567–20579 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7287-8

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