Effecting Partial Elimination of Isocyanuric Acid from Swimming Pool Water Systems

Electro-oxidation and UV irradiation coupled method for in-site removing pollutants from human body fluids in swimming pool

A comprehensive study was conducted to investigate how ultraviolet (UV) irradiation combined with electrochemistry (EC) can efficiently remove human body fluids (HBFs) related pollutants, such as urea/creatinine/hippuric acid, from swimming pool water (SPW). In comparison with the chlorination, UV, EC, and UV/chlorine treatments, the EC/UV treatment exhibited the highest removal rates for these typical pollutants (TPs) from HBFs in synthetic SPW. Specifically, increasing the operating current of the EC/UV process from 20 to 60 mA, as well as NaCl content from 0.5 to 3.0 g/L, improved urea and creatinine degradation while having no influence on hippuric acid. In contrast, EC/UV process was resilient to changes in water parameters (pH, HCO3-, and actual water matrix). Urea removal was primarily attributable to reactive chlorine species (RCS), whereas creatinine and hippuric acid removal were primarily related to hydroxyl radical, UV photolysis, and RCS. In addition, the EC/UV procedure can lessen the propensity for creatinine and hippuric acid to generate disinfection by-products. We can therefore draw the conclusion that the EC/UV process is a green and efficient in-situ technology for removing HBFs related TPs from SPW with the benefits of needless chlorine-based chemical additive, easy operation, continuous disinfection efficiency, and fewer byproducts production.

How to Quantify the Adsorption of Cyanuric Acid on Activated Carbon Used from Swimming Pool Disinfection?

The physical and chemical characteristics of an adsorbent are key factors determining its efficiency in relation to a particular adsorbate molecule. The adsorption of cyanuric acid (cya) on activated carbon (AC) has not been extensively explored in terms of its basic phenomenon and specific surface interactions. Cya is an important molecule in the swimming pool industry, as it protects free chlorine from UV light degradation. A proper characterization of AC will be beneficial for swimming pool product suppliers to determine the criteria while purchasing it to remove excess cya accumulated in pools. A detailed investigation of the physicochemical properties of activated carbon was conducted to assess its potential to adsorb cya from water. The effect of the adsorption capacity under various pH conditions was studied and it was found that acidic pH favors the adsorption process. With the help of temperature-programmed desorption coupled with mass spectrometry (TPD-MS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), the surface chemistry was well analyzed for a proper understanding of the adsorbent-adsorbate interaction. While conventional pool test equipment gives inconsistent readings of the cya concentration, a UV-vis spectroscopy-based methodology has been developed to accurately measure traces of cya in water. This method can be helpful to validate the accuracy of pool-testers for research and development purposes. The batch adsorption experiments revealed that cya adsorption on activated carbon follows pseudo-second-order kinetics, which confirms that the adsorption mechanism is chemisorption, which in fact, depends highly on the surface chemistry of the AC and the reaction pH.

Comparison of Disinfection By-Product Formation and Distribution during Breakpoint Chlorination and Chlorine-Based Disinfection in Drinking Water

Breakpoint chlorination (BC) and disinfection with chlorine-based disinfectant are widely used procedures in drinking water production. Both involve dosing chlorine into the raw water, where it can react with organic compounds, forming disinfection by-products (DBPs) of health concern. However, technological parameters (e.g., contact time, chlorine dosage, and bromide to residual free chlorine ratio) of the two chlorination procedures are different, which can lead to differences in DBP formation. To better understand this, a year-long sampling campaign was carried out at three waterworks in Hungary, where both BC and chlorine disinfection are used. To confirm the results of the field sampling, bench-scale experiments were carried out, investigating the impact of (a) bromide concentration in raw water, (b) residual free chlorine (bromide to residual chlorine ratio), and (c) contact time on DBP formation. The measured DBPs were trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetic acids (HAAs), haloacetonitriles (HANs), and chlorate. During BC, the DBPs were formed in higher concentration, with the exception of one waterwork having elevated bromide content in the raw water. Bromine substitution factors (BSFs) were significantly higher during disinfection than BC in both field and laboratory experiments. After BC, the chlorate concentration range was 0.15–1.1 mg/L, and 96% of the samples exceeded the European Union (EU) parametric value (0.25 mg/L), whereas disinfection contributed only slightly. Granular activated carbon (GAC) filters used to remove DBPs in waterworks were exhausted after 6–8 months of use, first for those chlorinated THMs, which are generated predominantly during BC. The biological activity of the filters started to increase after 3–6 months of operation. This activity helps to remove the biodegradable compounds, such as disubstituted haloacetic acid (DHAAs) and HANs, even if the adsorption capacity of the GAC filters are low.