Thesis (Ph.D.)--Aberdeen University, 2009. / Title from web page (viewed on Oct. 8, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

WATREX is an expert system used to aid in potable water treatment plant design and was developed several years ago by the Water Research Commission. More recently, this system was tested and a number of deficiencies identified. Amongst these deficiencies were the list of possible chemicals that should be additionally included in the system, as well as the prediction of turbidity removal. The objectives of this project were to investigate and improve these deficiencies. This was achieved in two ways. The chemical addition deficiency was improved through the introduction of new chemicals as separate processes and via improved formulation to model the effects of these chemicals using a spreadsheet with automated calculation abilities. Turbidity removal prediction was improved by the mathematical modelling using data obtained from existing water treatment plants throughout South Africa. The results obtained from the chemical addition improvements were compared to those obtained from other models and found to be correct. The modelling of the turbidity removal data resulted in a series of equations that predict turbidity removal based on plant performance and incoming turbidity values, a first of its kind. Though complete, these models have yet to be incorporated into the existing WATREX system. / Prof. J. Haarhoff

M. Ing.

Empirical observation of filter beds at South African water treatment plants showed that the filters were insufficiently cleaned by the backwash system and that media losses were unexpectedly high. Specific deposit tests developed by the RAU Water Research Group indicated that the dirtiness correlated with the organic content of the water being treated. This led to the hypothesis that biofilm is present on the media, somehow causing both the media loss and the difficulty to attain efficient backwashing. Biofilm consists of organisms surrounded by a sticky, gelatinous polysaccharide matrix. This matrix, also known as extra-cellular polymeric substances (EPS), is the bulk (50-90%) of the biofilm. Biofilm plays an important role in the establishment and maintenance of organisms in a hostile environment. From the above it doesn¡¦t make sense trying to measure biofilm from the numeration of the organisms. A more reliable direct but tedious measure is quantifying the EPS. A new alternative method developed by the RAU Water Research Group is to mechanically strip the specific deposit off the filter media and then determine the organic fraction by combusting the sample at 500¢XC. Two aspects of mechanical behaviour are deemed important in this study. First, headloss, because an under prediction in headloss will result in a higher than expected backwash frequency. Second, bed expansion, because an under prediction in bed expansion will lead to media washout. Literature indicates that both headloss and bed expansion increase with increasing biofilm growth. However, all those studies were conducted at waste water treatment plants with high organic and solids loading. With the exception of one reference which only discusses headloss, nothing on this topic is available in the literature for potable water treatment. Mathematical models were used to reduce the data from multiple headloss and bed expansion experiments. For the headloss data the Ergun equation was used and the sphericity (ƒÚ) was retained as the only unmeasured calibration constant. For the bed expansion data the Dharmarajah equation was used and the sphericity was retained as the only unmeasured calibration constant. Calibration of the mathematical models was done with least square fitting. The two values of sphericity as determined by Ergun and Dharmarajah are not necessarily the same for the same media sample. The sphericity was used as a calibration constant without any physical meaning, which accounts for different sets of complex unknowns. Samples for experimental work were drawn from full scale operating water treatment plants. The treatment plants were spread over four provincesof South Africa with different raw water sources, but using approximately the same media. The sampling was done on three occasions, Winter 2003, Summer 2003 and Winter 2004, to cover the extreme temperatures experienced in South Africa. Samples collected at the plants were tested for headloss and bed expansion, then transported back to the laboratory and placed in the oven for 24 hours at 110¢XC. The sample was then sieved and the density determined. The headloss and bed expansion tests were then repeated in the laboratory. Parallel to these tests, EPS and volatile fraction quantification tests were done. Direct methods of measuring biofilm, namely EPS and volatile fraction, yielded measurable results, thereby confirming the presence of biofilm. Plants that had large quantities of EPS also had a high volatile fraction, thereby confirming the expectation that the volatile fraction is an excellent method to rapidly quantify biofilm presence. EPS made up 41% of the volatile fraction, which is roughly comparable with the 50-90% quoted in literature. Where large quantities of EPS were found at a plant, a high TOC reduction also occurred through the filters. The indirect methods of measuring biofilm, namely headloss and bed expansion, also yielded measurable results. The filter media with biofilm as sampled from the treatment plants had a higher headloss and bed expansion than the same sample after drying and sieving, which resembles virgin filter media. The sphericity values for headloss decrease by as much as 26% which translates to a headloss gradient increase of 150mm/m at typical filtration rates. The sphericity values for bed expansion decrease by as much as 18% which translates to a bed expansion increase of 17% at normal backwash rates. The conditions at the treatment plants sampled suggest that biofilm growth is stimulated by eutrophic raw water and the presence of pre-ozonation and inhibited when the high pH lime process is used. The mechanism which causes the increased headloss and bed expansion with increased biofilm is hypothesised to be media grains sticking together causing clumping, and not grains which are individually and uniformly covered with a smooth, uniform layer of biofilm. Designers can compensate for this increase in headloss and bed expansion in two ways. They could either apply a correction factor after application of the models to allow for more headloss or bed expansion during eventual plant operation, or they could adjust parameters within the models to account for the larger headloss or bed expansion. As the surface area sphericity was used as a calibration factor in this study and could account for different sets of complex unknowns, it is suggested that this factor is used for adjustment of the model. Operational practice in South Africa often includes in-situ chlorine or acid treatment to alleviate the problem of dirty filter beds. In this study, however, where high and efficient backwash rates were used during tests, no significant improvements in media cleanliness could be attributed to the use of either chlorine or acid. It seems that a good backwash system doesn¡¦t need such remediation, but plants with a backwash system which underperforms might find such remediation useful. / Prof. J. Haarhoff

Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) represents a significant portion (25-80%) of total dissolved nitrogen in the final effluent of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). DON in treated wastewater, once degraded, causes oxygen depletion and/or eutrophication in receiving waters and should be reduced prior to discharge. Biodegradability, bioavailability, and photodegradability are important characteristics of wastewater derived DON and are subjects of research in this dissertation. Four research tasks were performed. In the first task, laboratory-scale chemostat experiments were conducted to examine whether solids retention time (SRT) could be used to control DON and biodegradable DON (BDON) in treated wastewater. Nine different SRTs from 0.3 to 13 were studied. There was no correlation between effluent DON and SRTs. However, BDONs at SRTs of 0.3 to 4 days were comparable and had a decreasing trend with SRTs after that. These results indicate the benefit of high SRTs in term of producing effluent with less BDON. The second task was a comprehensive year-round data collection to study the fate of DON and BDON through the treatment train of a trickling filter (TF) WWTP. The plant removed substantial amounts of DON (62%) and BDON (76%) mainly through the biological process. However, the discharged concentrations in the effluent were still high enough to be critical for a stringent total nitrogen discharge limit (below 5 mg-N/L). Evolution of bioavailable DON (ABDON) along the treatment trains of activated sludge (AS) and TF WWTPs and relationship between ABDON and BDON were examined in the third task. ABDON exerted from a combination of bacteria and algae inocula was higher than algae inoculated ABDON and bacteria inoculated BDON suggesting the use of algae as a treatment organism along with bacteria to minimize effluent DON. The TF and AS WWTPs removed 88% and 64% of ABDON, respectively. In the last task, photodegradable DON (PDON) in primary wastewater and final effluent from TF and AS WWTPs was studied. PDON and BDON fractions of DON data in the final effluent of TF and AS WWTP samples elucidate that photodegradation is as critically important as biodegradation when mineralization of effluent DON is a concern in receiving waters.

The use of particle counters in potable water treatment is achieving higher levels of acceptance on an ongoing basis. This is due to its superior sensitivity in terms of water clarity determination in comparison to turbidity meters. However, the ability of the particle counter to distinguish between various particle sizes, arguably its biggest advantage over turbidity measurement, is not being utilised fully, due to the large volumes of data generated and the amount of post-measurement data processing required to unlock some of the information. In many cases it is being used purely as a substitute or parallel measurement for turbidity. Furthermore, in the South African context, where data is being generated, the particle count data holds little value as it cannot be compared to generally available data sets to reveal the entire message contained in the count. No record of counts is available to rate new measurements against. / Prof. J. Haarhoff

Ozonation is used as an alternative disinfection process to chlorination but unfortunately has a potential of oxidizing bromide, a natural component of water sources, to bromate. Bromate is a possible carcinogen with a maximum contaminant level of 10 ppb. To understand bromate formation in full-scale systems, a comprehensive study was conducted at the Moorhead Water Treatment Plant (WTP). Bromide concentrations in source waters were monitored. Water samples from locations in the ozonation chambers were collected and analyzed for bromate and other parameters. Results showed that bromate formation was increased through increases in pH, bromide, and ozone dose during high temperatures and was decreased by increases in organics. The impact of the bromate influential parameters was minimized at low temperatures. To assist Moorhead WTP on developing bromate control strategies, a modeling approach was adopted to predict bromate formation at various operational conditions using temperature, pH, ozone dose, bromide, and TOC. / MWH Global, AWWA Scholarship / American Water Works Association (AWWA), Minnesota and North Dakota sections / North Dakota Water Resources Research Institute / Department of Civil Engineering, North Dakota State University

A recent study at the Moorhead water treatment plant (MWTP) determined that bromate formed during ozone disinfection and, at times, exceeded the maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 10 parts per billion (ppb) in the summer months. Operational data showed that bromate formation was directly related to raw water bromide concentration and control of the ozone system. This study was conducted with the purpose of developing and implementing operational strategies to minimize bromate formation in the MWTP. Several operational changes, including selection of source water based on bromide concentration and controlling ozone addition in a manner that reduces the ozone dose used to achieve disinfection, were implemented and were effective at minimizing bromate formation in the ozone chambers. The bromate concentration in the finished drinking water was significantly reduced and only a few samples contained greater than 10 ppb bromate. / Moorhead Public Service / American Water Works Association

In this study photoelectrocatalytic technology has been combined with fuel cell technology in an attempt to provide a stand alone water polishing device to be applied to the water purification industry. Tungsten trioxide was chosen as the photoelectrocatalyst to be applied to the fuel cell membrane electrode assembly (MEA). In this thesis two possible WO₃-based photoanodes were studied. Firstly a Nafion-loaded WO₃ photoanode utilising the state of the art proton conductor Nafion in the MEA. The second WO₃-based photoanode was synthesised by a sol-gel method with a view to being directly sintered onto a not yet developed solid state MEA containing a proton conductive glass. In both methods electrochemical studies were undertaken with both WO₃ based photoanodes deposited on fluorine doped tin oxide glass (FTO). The WO₃ catalysts were studied by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, Nitrogen adsorption and UV-visible spectroscopy. Electrochemical studies included cyclic voltametry and linear sweep voltametry under illumination to ascertain the photocurrent densities of the photoanodes and hence their ability to degrade water borne contaminants. The underlying materials properties were explored as well as the nature of the deposition to gain insight into the mechanisms responsible for effective photoelectrocatalytic activity. The Nafion-loaded WO₃ was applied to a Nafion membrane based MEA and utilised in a photoelectrocatalytic fuel cell. This was studied for possible application under self sustaining conditions for application in the water industry.

The purpose of this research is to compare the performance for the water quality of two traditional water treatment plants (WTP) and three advanced water treatment plants (AWTP), and to investigate the treated drinking water in distribution systems in Kaohsiung area for promoting the consumers¡¦ self-confidence. Samples of the treated water from five major water supplies¡¦ WTP(noted numbers: WF1, WF2, WF3, WF4 and WF5) and the tap water at user¡¦s end were selected in planning of this work. It was the traditional WTP stage with treated drinking water and distribution systems in Kaohsiung area During 91 year to 92 year, so we conducted WF1 and WF2 of 8 times sampling and WF3, WF4 and WF5 for 2 times sampling at this stage. In and after 93 year, we conducted WF1, WF2, WF3, WF4 and WF5 of 8 times sampling from 93 year to 94year for the advanced WTP stage. The major tests related with the parameters of influencing operation condition included pH, odor (abbreviated as TON), total trihalomethane (abbreviated as THMs), haloacetic acids (abbreviated as HAAs), nitrogen (abbreviated as, NH3-N, hardness, total dissolved solid (abbreviated as TDS), alkalinity, total organic carbon (abbreviated as TOC), calcium ion, flavor profile analysis (abbreviated as FPA), and suspension observation in boiling with treated waters from two WTP , three AWTP and the tap water at user¡¦s end in a distribution system. It point out the better quality of treated water used the advanced water treatment plants than that of traditional water treatment plant. The items with improvement of water quality, including THMs, HAAs, hardness, TON, 2-MIB, TOC, alkinality and Ca ions concentration, is presented. Their efficiency for improvement are respectively 47%, 29%, 43%, 11%, 29%, 15%, 14% and 34%. The insignificant efficiency were concentrated at TDS, NH3-N, pH and FPA. Water quality of six items are fitted for the drinking water standard at present in Taiwan (such as: odor<3 TON; THMs<0.1 mg/L; NH3-N<0.1 mg/L; TDS< 600 mg/L; Hardness <400 mg as CaCO3/L; 6.0<pH <8.5). The HAAs is fit for water quality USEPA first stage water standard (HAAs<80 £gg/L). In the suspension observation in boiling experimentation, we cooperate with the experiment of suspension observation in boiling to do contrast with TDS and hardness experiment, which can find out, the treated water after the advanced procedure, the time with boiling increases, the condition of its suspended substance has great reduction. It show treated drinking water after the advanced WTP can huge improve the traditional WTP¡¦s white suspended substance or white material precipitate questions in the boiling. In the contour map for water quality , we found that Gushan District, Lingya District, Qianzhen District, Xiaogang District, Fongshan City and Daliao Shiang etc had higher concentration profile in the four season (included spring, summer, fall and winter ) and during two seasons (included raining and drying) in the water supplies systems. We hope the contour map can offer a clear information of conveyer system administrator of drinking water and let administrator know where areas have high concentration produced in water quality management planning, in order to having priority or effective solutions (included washing the pipeline, changing the pipeline, changing the water flow, etc.).