Impact factors and pathways of halonitromethanes formation from aspartic acid during LED-UV₂₆₅/chlorine disinfection

Highlights

● Cu²⁺ promoted the formation of HNMs during LED-UV₂₆₅/chlorine disinfection.

● Increasing Br⁻ significantly influenced the production and species of HNMs.

● Formation pathways of HNMs were proposed during LED-UV₂₆₅/chlorine disinfection.

● The formation laws of HNMs in real water were similar to that in simulated water.

● LED-UV₂₆₅ can replace the mercury lamp during UV/chlorine disinfection.

Abstract

Light emitting diode (LED-UV)/chlorine disinfection can replace UV/chlorine disinfection in wastewater treatment plants and water supply plants. Halonitromethanes (HNMs) are a class of novel nitrogenous disinfection by-products, which are characterized by higher cytotoxicity and genotoxicity than regulated disinfection by-products. Herein, the impact factors and pathways of HNMs formation from aspartic acid (ASP) were investigated during LED-UV₂₆₅/chlorine disinfection. The results showed that three types of chlorinated-HNMs (Cl-HNMs) were found during LED-UV₂₆₅/chlorine disinfection, and their concentrations increased first and then declined as the reaction progressed. Cl-HNMs yields increased with increasing LED-UV₂₆₅ intensity, free chlorine dosage, and ASP concentration, which declined with increasing pH (6.0–8.0). Meantime, the important impact of the coexisting ions contained in water matrices on HNMs formation from ASP was observed during LED-UV₂₆₅/chlorine disinfection. It was found that copper ions (Cu²⁺) promoted Cl-HNMs formation. Furthermore, when bromide (Br^–) appeared during LED-UV₂₆₅/chlorine disinfection, nine types of HNMs were detected simultaneously. Moreover, Br^– not only converted Cl-HNMs toward brominated (chlorinated)-HNMs and brominated-HNMs but also showed a marked effect on HNMs concentrations and species. Subsequently, the possible pathways of HNMs formation from ASP were proposed during LED-UV₂₆₅/chlorine disinfection. At last, it was proved that the formation trends of HNMs obtained in the real waters were similar to those in simulated waters. This work elaborated on the influence factors and pathways of HNMs formation, which is conducive to controlling the HNMs produced during LED-UV₂₆₅/chlorine disinfection.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

LED-UV₂₆₅/chlorine / HNMs / Aspartic acid / Bromide / Copper ions

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22076023 and 21677032) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (China) (Nos. 2242022k30030 and 2242022k30031). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Declaration of Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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