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Georgia Institute of Technology

Effect of combined UV and free chlorine on the formation of chloronitromethanes

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The results from this study show how different precursors affect halonitromethane (HNM) formation as well as how different free chlorine doses can affect HNM speciation. This study shows that the low pressure ultraviolet (LPUV) and free chlorine concurrent exposure can enhance HNM formation. In addition, most previous studies in the literature showed trichloronitromethane (TCNM) forming in greater quantities followed by monochloronitromethane (MCNM) and dichloronitromethane (DCNM). However, the results of this study show that, in deionized (DI) water matrices, MCNM forms in greater quantities at chlorine to nitrogen (Cl:N) ratios less than 3, while TCNM forms in greater quantities at Cl:N ratios greater than 3. Even so, the increase in TCNM formation did not increase linearly as the Cl:N ratio increased; there was a decreased rate of return when Cl:N ratios were greater than 3. The type of nitrogenous precursors can affect the amount of HNMs formed, with glycine forming a higher amount of total HNMs compared to methylamine (MA) and dimethylamine (DMA). The source of water can also affect which HNM species is formed in greater concentrations. The limited number of real water samples showed that the river waters have higher than normal total organic carbon (TOC) and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), which are associated with greater nitrogenous precursors and higher HNM formation. Each water source can have different nitrogenous precursors; river waters may have more algal organic matter while wastewater would have higher organic matter and synthetic chemicals. In addition, source waters can have different constituents, such as varying dissolved oxygen (DO) levels and inorganic ions, which might inhibit HNM formation or affect specification.

Degree

thesis:*
Level thesis:degree_level
Masters
Department dc:contributor.department
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Georgia Institute of Technology
Year dc:date.issued
2015

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Vargas, David
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Huang, Ching-Hua
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Pavlostathis, Spyros
  • Chen, Yongsheng

Subjects

dc:subject × 5

Rights

Language dc:language.iso
en_US

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Handle dc:identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/1853/54402
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:repository.gatech.edu:1853/54402

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Georgia Tech
Base URL
repository.gatech.edu/server/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-27
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Vargas, David. Effect of combined UV and free chlorine on the formation of chloronitromethanes. Masters thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/54402