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Occurrence of titanium dioxide nanoparticle in Taihu Lake (China) and its removal at a full-scale drinking water treatment plant

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Abstract

The occurrence of titanium dioxide nanoparticle (TNP), an emerging contaminant, in Taihu Lake of China was investigated. Ti was present at a concentration of 224 ± 59 μg/L in the water samples collected from a water source in east Taihu Lake. Approximately 0.19% of the Ti-containing matter was at the nano-scale. Scanning Electron Microscope analysis verified the existence of Ti-containing components, such as TiOx and FeTiOx. Furthermore, Ti K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy was used to detect the phase composition of nano-scaled Ti-containing matter. The spectra showed the three characteristic peaks of TiO2 in the samples, suggesting the occurrence of TNP in Taihu Lake. A least-squares linear combination fitting analysis indicated that the TNP concentration in the water source was ~0.77 μg/L in water and ~0.85 μg/g-dry in sediment. The removal performance of the TNP at a full-scale conventional drinking water treatment plant indicated that ~61% of TNP was removed via coagulation/sediment, sand filtration, and disinfection/clear water reservoir. The coagulation/sediment process accounted for approximately 70% of the total removed TNP. The finished water contained ~ 0.30 μg/L TNP. This study is the first that reported the presence and transport of TNP in a full-scale drinking water treatment system.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank BL14W1 beamline (Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility) for providing the beam time.

Funding

This work was supported by “The National Major Project of Science & Technology Ministry of China (No. 2012ZX07403-001)” and “The National Major Project of Science & Technology Ministry of China (No. 2017ZX07101002-04)”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute (Group) Co., LTD., Shanghai, 200092, China

    Zhiyuan Liu & Min Rui

  2. Shanghai Water Industrial Design Engineering Co., LTD., Shanghai, 200092, China

    Zhiyuan Liu & Min Rui

  3. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, Department of Municipal Engineering, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Shuili Yu

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  1. Zhiyuan Liu
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  2. Min Rui
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  3. Shuili Yu
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Contributions

Zhiyuan Liu was responsible for the design and implementation of the experiment, while Shuili Yu and Min Rui participated in the discussion of the experimental direction.

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Correspondence to Shuili Yu.

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Liu, Z., Rui, M. & Yu, S. Occurrence of titanium dioxide nanoparticle in Taihu Lake (China) and its removal at a full-scale drinking water treatment plant. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 23352–23360 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15775-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15775-5

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