Chlorination of chlortoluron: kinetics, pathways and chloroform formation

Chlortoluron chlorination is studied in the pH range of 3-10 at 25 ± 1 °C. The chlorination kinetics can be well described by a second-order kinetics model, first-order in chlorine and first-order in chlortoluron. The apparent rate constants were determined and found to be minimum at pH 6, maximum at pH 3 and medium at alkaline conditions. The rate constant of each predominant elementary reactions (i.e., the acid-catalyzed reaction of chlortoluron with HOCl, the reaction of chlortoluron with HOCl and the reaction of chlortoluron with OCl⁻) was calculated as 3.12 (± 0.10) × 10⁷ M⁻² h⁻¹, 3.11 (±0.39) × 10² M⁻¹ h⁻¹ and 3.06 (±0.47) × 10³ M⁻¹ h⁻¹, respectively. The main chlortoluron chlorination by-products were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with purge-and-trap pretreatment, ultra-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-MS and GC-electron capture detector. Six volatile disinfection by-products were identified including chloroform (CF), dichloroacetonitrile, 1,1-dichloropropanone, 1,1,1-trichloropropanone, dichloronitromethane and trichloronitromethane. Degradation pathways of chlortoluron chlorination were then proposed. High concentrations of CF were generated during chlortoluron chlorination, with maximum CF yield at circumneutral pH range in solution.     

Biocompatible self-healing hydrogels based on boronic acid-functionalized polymer and laponite nanocomposite for water pollutant removal

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Global water pollution by organic dyes and metals may be solved by adsorption. In particular, hydrogel adsorbents display unique...     

Micropollutant removal and disinfection byproduct control by sequential peroxymonosulfate-UV treatment in water: A case study with sulfamethoxazole

UV/peroxymonosulfate (UV/PMS) advanced oxidation process has attracted significant attention for removal of micropollutants in water. However, during practical water treatment applications, the PMS treatment must be performed before the UV treatment to achieve full contact. In this study, sulfamethoxazole (SMX) was selected as the target micropollutant. Four different operational approaches, including UV alone, PMS alone, simultaneous UV/PMS and sequential PMS-UV, were compared for their differences in SMX removal and disinfection by-product (DBP) formation potentials during chlorine-driven disinfection. Among the four approaches, UV/PMS and PMS-UV achieved over 90% removal efficiencies for SMX without substantial differences. For raw water, the trichloronitromethane (TCNM) formation potential after treatment with PMS-UV was lower than that after UV/PMS treatment. The time interval over which the PMS-UV process was conducted had little effect on the final removal efficiency for SMX. However, a brief (5 min) pre-PMS treatment significantly reduced the TCNM formation potential and the genotoxicity from DBPs. The formation risk for TCNM during chlorination increased markedly with increasing PMS dosages, and the appropriate dosage under these experimental conditions was suggested to be 0.5–1.0 mmol/L. Under alkaline conditions, PMS-UV treatment can enhance SMX degradation as well as dramatically reduced the formation potentials for haloketones, haloacetonitriles and halonitromethanes. This study suggests that proper optimization of UV/PMS processes can remove SMX and reduce its DBP formation.     

Fenton氧化/混凝协同处理焦化废水生物出水的研究

对Fenton氧化/混凝协同处理焦化废水生物出水的方法进行了研究,在综合考虑经济性和去除效果的前提下,提出了反应的最佳条件:H₂O₂投加量为220 mg/L,Fe²⁺投加量为180 mg/L,聚丙烯酰胺投加量为4.5 mg/L,反应时间为0.5h,pH=7.最终COD去除率可达44.5%,色度可以降为35倍,出水符合国家污水排放二级标准.同时,通过分析分子量分布和小分子有机物组成,揭示了Fenton氧化/混凝协同处理焦化废水生物出水的污染物变化规律.结果表明焦化废水经过Fenton氧化/混凝协同处理后,其出水可达到国家二级排放标准,并且处理成本相对较低,具有实际应用的前景.     

声屏障高度对高铁(客运专线)降噪效果的影响

为探究声屏障高度对高速铁路降噪效果的影响,建立了高速铁路声屏障降噪模型.以武广客运专线某试验段为模型参照对象,采用有限元软件ANSYS和声学软件SYSNOISE,对不同条件下不同高度的直立型声屏障的降噪效果进行了仿真模拟.结果表明:列车的运行速度越大,声屏障的降噪作用越不明显;在同一运行工况下,桥梁区段声屏障的降噪效果不如路基区段声屏障.通过MATLAB数值拟合,发现各观测点的声衰减值是与声屏障高度有关的对数函数;随着声屏障高度的增加,声屏障的插入损失不是成线性比例的增加,插入损失函数的增长速率越来越小.在同时考虑降噪需要和声屏障成本的情况下,高速铁路路基区段声屏障的合适高度为3.45~3.95m;桥梁区段声屏障的合适高度在3.15m以上,在高速运行工况下,桥梁区段声屏障的高度还需增加.     

Insight into the formation of iodinated trihalomethanes during chlorination, monochloramination, and dichloramination of iodide-containing water

In this study, the formation of iodinated trihalomethanes (I-THMs) was systematically evaluated and compared for three treatment processes - (i) chlorination, (ii) monochloramine, and (iii) dichloramination - under different pH conditions. The results demonstrated that I-THM formation decreased in the order of monochloramination > dichloramination > chlorination in acidic and neutral pH. However, the generation of I-THMs increased in the dichloramination < chlorination < monochloramination order in alkaline condition. Specifically, the formation of I-THMs increased as pH increased from 5 to 9 during chlorination and monochloramination processes, while the maximum I-THM formation occurred at pH 7 during dichloramination. The discrepancy could be mainly related to the stability of the three chlor (am) ine disinfectants at different pH conditions. Moreover, in order to gain a thorough insight into the mechanisms of I-THM formation during dichloramination, further investigation was conducted on the influencing factors of DOC concentration and Br⁻/I⁻ molar ratio. I-THM formation exhibited an increasing and then decreasing trend as the concentration of DOC increased from 1 to 7 mg-C/L, while the yield of I-THMs increased with increasing Br⁻/I⁻ molar ratio from 5:0 to 5:10. During the three processes mentioned above, similar I-THM formation results were also obtained in real water, which indicates that the excessive generation of I-THMs should be paid special attention during the disinfection of iodide-containing water.