Monitoring of trihalomethanes removal in chlorinated drinking water sources with carbon nanomaterials

Abstract

This study investigates trihalomethanes (THMs) removal from chlorinated drinking water sources with combined coagulation processes using single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Terkos Lake water (TLW), Buyukcekmece Lake water (BLW) and Ulutan Lake water (ULW) were used as drinking water source in this study.  Conventional coagulation using aluminum sulfate (alum) and ferric chloride (FeCl 3 ) was also conducted using TLW, BLW and ULW sample. In the meantime, the chlorination of raw water samples within a reaction time of 168 hours was conducted in accordance with Standard Methods 5710 B. CHCl 3 was the dominant THM species removed by SWNCNTs doses (>75%) followed by CHCl 2 Br (>70%), CHBr 2 Cl (>60%) and CHBr 3 (>50%) for three chlorinated water sources. The results demonstrate that the combined coagulation processes is more effective than effective than the conventional coagulants for THMs removal from various types of chlorinated water source waters.