Evaluation and improvement of total organic bromine analysis with respect to reductive property of activated carbon

Abstract

A collective parameter and a toxicity indicator for all the halogenated organic disinfection byproducts in a water sample is total organic halogen (TOX), which can be differentiated as total organic chlorine (TOCl), total organic bromine (TOBr) and total organic iodine. The TOX method involves concentration of organic halogens from water by adsorption onto activated carbon (AC). A previous study showed that a portion of TOCl can be reduced to chloride during the adsorption procedure, which can be minimized by ozonation of the AC. In this study, a portion of TOBr was sometimes found to be reduced by AC to bromide, and the reduction was generally less than that of corresponding TOCl. The results suggested that around 10% of brominated Suwannee River fulvic acid was reduced to bromide. However, some brominated amino compounds (especially glycylglycine, phenylalanine, and cytosine) were found to be more reactive with the AC. For the iodinated compounds studied, the reduction to iodide was not significant. The method for the TOBr measurement was improved by using ozonated AC when reduction occurred on the original AC. The improved method was also evaluated on treated wastewater and swimming pool water samples.