ReviewEmerging disinfection byproducts: A review on their occurrence and control in drinking water treatment processes
Graphical abstract
Introduction
A major accomplishment for the protection of human health is the production of safe drinking water from raw surface and ground waters. Drinking water sources have thus become a priority for environmental communities worldwide. Water disinfection plays a pivotal role in reducing serious illnesses associated with waterborne diseases. Disinfection is used to eliminate pathogenic microorganisms during the drinking water treatment (DWT) and to ensure in the distribution network the quality parameters for a safe drinking water consumption (Chau et al., 2018). DWT companies must assume the responsibility for water safety and at the same time for the implementation of the most efficient technologies to warrant that all qualitative indicators are below the limits imposed by the regulations.
Most common chemical disinfectants are chlorine-based (e.g. chlorine, chlorine dioxide, hypochlorite salts), having the advantages of low cost and easy manipulation, high efficiencies towards different pathogens, taste improvement and persistence in the distribution network. However, disinfection byproducts (DBPs) often occur after chlorine-based disinfection processes (Gupta and Ali, 2013), implying possible adverse effects and risks to human health. Many precursors, as natural organic matter (NOM), algal organic matter (AOM), anthropogenic contaminants (e.g. pesticides, pharmaceuticals, detergents, etc.), brominated and iodinated compounds, as well as upstream wastewater discharges, and DWT operational parameters (disinfection agent type and/or dose, pH, contact time, temperature) may contribute to the development of DBPs (Alexandrou et al., 2018). Precursors’ presence and amount could be subjected to seasonal variations (e.g. for AOM or contaminants related to agricultural activities, as ammonium and pesticides). DBPs are classified “harmful for human health” and their occurrence in raw water sources imposes special monitoring and efforts for the water companies (WHO, 2017).
In order to avoid DBPs formation, new disinfection processes and technologies were developed (e.g. ozone, ultraviolet, silver ion, electrochlorination, ferrate), involving high costs related to equipment and energy consumption (Mohd Zainudin et al., 2018). However, DBPs occurrence was demonstrated also for disinfection processes using non-chlorinated reagents (Ding et al., 2019).
Many members of the drinking water protection community have been actively working to clearly understand the possible negative effects of DBPs on human health. Meanwhile, state and federal governments have taken steps to protect the public from the potential health risks of DBPs by conducting research on their toxicological effects, strengthening drinking water regulations and supporting improvements in water treatment technology (Bereskie et al., 2017). Many authors focused their research on DBPs and disinfection processes under the following directions: (i) occurrence and removal of DBPs precursors deriving from raw water sources and optimization of DWT operational parameters and (ii) improved removal of DBPs and residual microorganisms at the end of DWT process and within the distribution network. Advanced drinking water treatment (ADWT) technologies are implemented for removing emerging pollutants (including DBPs) and reducing the concentrations of organic/inorganic precursors (Teodosiu et al., 2018).
This study has as main goal a consistent analysis of the major problems caused by emerging DBPs to drinking water supplies, providing a foundation for future research and highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of DBPs’ control processes. To our knowledge, most research focused so far on the identification of DBPs and their precursors rather than on removal technologies. This study has the aim to present a comprehensive review of the research efforts related to emerging DBPs considering three objectives: 1) an overview of their classification, legislative framework, methods of analysis, disinfection operational conditions and removal processes; 2) their occurrence, fate, health effects and impacts; 3) a critical assessment of the ADWT processes that might be used for the removal and control of emerging DBPs and their precursors, with a specific focus on pilot and full-scale installations.
Section snippets
Methodology
The analysis of the scientific literature considered for this review was based on the following selection criteria:
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The relevance of articles and international information databases. This study was based on 207 documents: articles found in Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, Springer, Wiley Online Library, and reports downloaded from the European Commission or other international reference databases (165 scientific papers, 24 review papers, 18 books/technical reports/regulations);
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Publication
Emerging DBPs of concern for drinking water treatment processes
DBPs are formed in drinking water from the reaction of disinfection agents with other compounds (precursors) occurring in raw water as: NOM, bromide and iodide, anthropogenic compounds (pharmaceuticals, antibacterial agents, textile dyes, pesticides, surfactants and cyanotoxins, etc.) (Papageorgiou et al., 2016; Richardson and Postigo, 2012). In recent years, great efforts were made to study the fate, occurrence and ecotoxicology of byproducts of drinking water disinfection processes. During
Advanced DWT technologies for DBPs prevention and control
Given the number of known DBPs and its continuous growth, to prevent their occurrence and development, operational parameters and drinking water characteristics should be carefully monitored. Implementing technologies that have the ability to remove DBPs and to prevent their re-emergence in the distribution network is highly necessary (López-Roldán et al., 2016). Conventional DWT processes needs to be completed with ADWT processes (Chaukura et al., 2020; Du et al., 2017; Ohar and Ostfeld, 2014)
Conclusions
DWT plants monitoring and management may not fully cover the regulated DBPs occurrence and further exposure of humans through drinking water consumption. DBPs and their precursors removal from treated water is the key to supply safe drinking water. Unlike the removal of commonly known precursors, which has been greatly developed, up-to-date treatment processes may not be efficient in removing emerging DBPs because of the lack of data on their trace concentrations and the risks associated with
Authors’ contributions
Conceptualization, methodology, supervision, writing-review & editing: C. Teodosiu and S. Fiore; data curation, investigation, writing-original draft: A.F. Gilca and C.P. Musteret.
Declaration of competing 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.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a grant of the Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation, CCCDI-UEFISCDI, project number 26PCCDI/01.03.2018, “Integrated and sustainable processes for environmental clean-up, wastewater reuse and waste valorization” (SUSTENVPRO), within PNCDI III.
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