Removal of trihalomethanes from drinking water by nanofiltration membranes

Vedat Uyak*, Ismail Koyuncu, Ibrahim Oktem, Mehmet Cakmakci, Ismail Toroz

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

111 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Chlorine reacts with the natural organic matter (NOM) in waters and forms disinfection by-products (DBP). Major of these by-products are trihalomethanes (THM) and haloacetic acids (HAA). They have been known to cause cancer and other toxic effects to human beings. This study determined the removal efficiencies of THM by nanofiltration (NF) techniques with NF200 and DS5 membrane. The rejection of this chlorination by-products was studied at various feed concentration by changing transmembrane pressure. Experimental results indicated that in general increasing operating pressure produces a higher flux but does not have a significant effect on THM rejection. On the other hand, increasing the feed concentration produces a little change in the overall flux and rejection capacity. NF200 membrane removed more THM than DS5 membrane. The higher removal efficiency of dibromochloromethane (DBCM) was attributed to brominating characteristics (higher molecular weight (MW) and molecular size). As a consequence, the results of this study suggest that the NF membrane process is one of the best available technologies for removing THM compounds.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)789-794
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Hazardous Materials
Volume152
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2008

Keywords

  • Nanofiltration (NF)
  • Operational conditions
  • Synthetic water
  • Trihalomethanes (THM)

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