Effect of ozonation on chemical, physical, and biological removal of natural organic matter in granular filters

许多加拿大供水设施无法满足关于潜在致癌消毒副产品的规定。 水中有机碳的含量会影响形成的副产品的量。传统的水处理厂使用大量的化学品来去除水中的有机碳。基于膜过滤的工厂使用化学预处理来减少由有机化合物引起的膜污染。化学品成本占常规石灰/苏打软化装置的总操作成本的约50%。 此外，暴露于富含有机物的水中的过滤器需要经常清洗或更换，许多社区根本负担不起。该项目是通过研究颗粒过滤去除有机碳的机制来改善水质的全球战略的一部分。过滤过程中加入臭氧，以提高有机物的去除率。然而，即使添加臭氧，过滤去除有机物的效率也很低。建议的工作将调查水的臭氧氧化颗粒过滤去除有机碳之前的效果。 我将通过调查有机碳附着在过滤介质上的机制和实现这种碳的生物降解所需的条件来解决这一目标。生物过程利用当地的微生物群落，只需很少或不需要化学修正，为各种规模的社区提供了一种更便宜的水处理方法。这项工作将为优化生物过滤器的操作和维护提供见解，这将有利于我们的工业合作伙伴，波蒂奇拉普雷里水处理厂。另一个合作伙伴（咨询行业AECOM）将能够为其他有类似问题的水厂提供有机碳去除策略。学生将在本研究期间接受培训。这些学生将获得一套独特的技能，应用生物过滤生产饮用水，这是加拿大水处理行业迫切需要的。

Many Canadian water facilities are unable to meet the regulations governing potentially carcinogenic disinfection by-products. The amount of organic carbon in the water affects the amount of by-products formed. Conventional water treatment plants use extensive amounts of chemicals to remove organic carbon from the water. Membrane filtration-based plants use chemical pre-treatments to reduce membrane fouling caused by organic compounds. Chemical costs represent about 50% of the total operating cost of a conventional lime/soda softening plant. Additionally, filters exposed to organic-rich water require frequent cleaning or replacement, and many communities simply cannot afford it.This project is part of a global strategy to improve water quality by investigating mechanisms of removal of organic carbon by granular filtration. Ozone is incorporated into the filtration process to improve organics removal. However, even with ozone addition, the effectiveness of organics removal by filtration is low. The proposed work will investigate the effects of water oxidation with ozone prior to granular filtration on the removal of organic carbon. I will address this objective by investigating mechanisms of organic carbon attachment to the filter media and conditions required to achieve biodegradation of this carbon.Biological processes, that utilize local microbial communities and require little or no chemical amendments, offer a cheaper approach to water treatment for communities of all sizes. This work will provide insight on optimized operation and maintenance of biological filters that will benefit our industrial partner, the Portage la Prairie water treatment plant. The other partner (Consulting industry AECOM), will be able to offer strategies for organic carbon removal to other water plants with a similar problem.Two Ph.D. students will be trained during this research. These students will obtain a unique set of skills in applications biological filtration for production of drinking water, which are urgently needed by the Canadian water treatment industry.