Application of stabilized hypobromite for controlling membrane fouling and N-nitrosodimethylamine formation

Research progress on the generation of NDMA by typical PPCPs in disinfection treatment of water environment in China: A review

The drugs and personal care products in water sources are potential threats to the ecological environment and drinking water quality. In recent years, the presence of PPCPs has been detected in multiple drinking water sources in China. PPCPs are usually stable and resistant to degradation in aquatic environments. During chlorination, chloramination, and ozonation disinfection processes, PPCPs can act as precursor substances to generate N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) which is the most widely detected nitrosamine byproduct in drinking water. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the impact of PPCPs in China's water environment on the generation of NDMA during disinfection processes to better understand the correlation between PPCPs and NDMA generation. Chloramine is the most likely to form NDMA with different disinfection methods, so chloramine disinfection may be the main pathway for NDMA generation. Activated carbon adsorption and UV photolysis are widely used in the removal of NDMA and its precursor PPCPs, and biological treatment is found to be a low-cost and high removal rate method for controlling the generation of NDMA. However, there are still certain regional limitations in the investigation and research on PPCPs, and other nitrosamine by-products such as NMEA, NDEA and NDBA should also be studied to investigate the formation mechanism and removal methods.

Chloramine Disinfection of Levofloxacin and Sulfaphenazole: Unraveling Novel Disinfection Byproducts and Elucidating Formation Mechanisms for an Enhanced Understanding of Water Treatment

The unrestricted utilization of antibiotics poses a critical challenge to global public health and safety. Levofloxacin (LEV) and sulfaphenazole (SPN), widely employed broad-spectrum antimicrobials, are frequently detected at the terminal stage of water treatment, raising concerns regarding their potential conversion into detrimental disinfection byproducts (DBPs). However, current knowledge is deficient in identifying the potential DBPs and elucidating the precise transformation pathways and influencing factors during the chloramine disinfection process of these two antibiotics. This study conducts a comprehensive analysis of reaction pathways, encompassing piperazine ring opening/oxidation, Cl-substitution, OH-substitution, desulfurization, and S-N bond cleavage, during chloramine disinfection. Twelve new DBPs were identified in this study, exhibiting stability and persistence even after 24 h of disinfection. Additionally, an examination of DBP generation under varying disinfectant concentrations and pH values revealed peak levels at a molar ratio of 25 for LEV and SPN to chloramine, with LEV contributing 11.5% and SPN 23.8% to the relative abundance of DBPs. Remarkably, this research underscores a substantial increase in DBP formation within the molar ratio range of 1:1 to 1:10 compared to 1:10 to 1:25. Furthermore, a pronounced elevation in DBP generation was observed in the pH range of 7 to 8. These findings present critical insights into the impact of the disinfection process on these antibiotics, emphasizing the innovation and significance of this research in assessing associated health risks.

Contamination, Decomposition, and Formation of N-Nitrosodimethylamine in Water Samples at the ng/L Level of Determination

An ultra-sensitive analytical system that can determine the concentration of N-nitrosamines at the ng/L level without preconcentration was used to investigate the contamination, decomposition, and formation of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) and other N-nitrosamines in water samples during general analytical procedures. A preliminary experiment was performed to estimate the NDMA concentrations in ambient air. Since the air samples contained NDMA at concentrations in the range of 2.0 - 10.7 ng/m³, ambient air was identified as the source of NDMA contamination in water samples. We directly confirmed that the concentration of aqueous 10-ng/L NDMA samples stored in clear glass bottles decreased upon exposure to sunlight. Thus, to maintain the N-nitrosamine concentration, such samples must always be protected from sunlight during sampling. The existence of N-nitrosamines in experimental reagents, such as ranitidine and sodium hypochlorite solutions, was also confirmed, as was the formation of NDMA on an activated carbon solid-phase extraction cartridge.