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Whole pictures of halogenated disinfection byproducts in tap water from China’s cities

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Abstract

When bromide/iodide is present in source water, hypobromous acid/hypoiodous acid will be formed with addition of chlorine, chloramine, or other disinfectants. Hypobromous acid/hypoiodous acid undergoes reactions with natural organic matter in source water to form numerous brominated/iodinated disinfection byproducts (DBPs). In this study, tap water samples were collected from eight cities in China. With the aid of electrospray ionization-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry by setting precursor ion scans of m/z 35, m/z 81, and m/z 126.9, whole pictures of polar chlorinated, brominated, and iodinated DBPs in the tap water samples were revealed for the first time. Numerous polar halogenated DBPs were detected, including haloacetic acids, newly identified halogenated phenols, and many new/unknown halogenated compounds. Total organic chlorine, total organic bromine, and total organic iodine were also measured to indicate the total levels of all chlorinated, brominated, and iodinated DBPs in the tap water samples. The total organic chlorine concentrations ranged from 26.8 to 194.0 μg·L−1 as Cl, with an average of 109.2 μg·L−1 as Cl; the total organic bromine concentrations ranged from below detection limit to 113.3 μg·L−1 as Br, with an average of 34.7 μg·L−1 as Br; the total organic iodine concentrations ranged from below detection limit to 16.4 μg·L−1 as I, with an average of 9.1 μg·L−1 as I; the total organic halogen concentrations ranged from 31.3 to 220.4 μg·L−1 as Cl, with an average of 127.2 μg·L−1 as Cl.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Yang Pan & Jianping Zhai

  2. Environmental Engineering Program, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

    Yang Pan & Xiangru Zhang

Authors
  1. Yang Pan
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  2. Xiangru Zhang
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  3. Jianping Zhai
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Correspondence to Xiangru Zhang.

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Pan, Y., Zhang, X. & Zhai, J. Whole pictures of halogenated disinfection byproducts in tap water from China’s cities. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 9, 121–130 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-014-0727-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-014-0727-0

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