Introduction Water disinfection by common disinfectants is a crucial step in ensuring safe drinking water by removing pathogenic bacteria. However, the reaction of such chemicals with natural organic matter (NOM) present in water may generate disinfection by-products (DBPs). One approach to prevent this undesired production is the removal of NOM by adsorption prior to the disinfection process. Among conventional adsorbents, activated carbon (AC) have been widely studied. Nevertheless, there is not a one-for-all solution, and operative conditions need to be investigated for specific treatments. Moreover, the design of new advanced adsorbent materials is encouraged to provide more sustainable and efficient solutions. This guideline presents a summary of Deliverable D2.3, which shall enable the evaluation of conventional adsorbents (i.e. AC) and innovative adsorbents, made of cellulose nanofibers cross-linked to form cellulose nanosponges (CNS), to enhance water treatment processes before disinfection, also providing guidelines for those drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) which might not have experience with the selection of adsorbents. Target audience The guideline targets water utilities, adsorbent materials producers and decision makers and shall pave the way for the adoption of advanced water treatment solutions to ensure safe drinking water in a climate change scenario. Scope and objectives This document summarizes the set of guidelines presented in D2.3 “Application guideline about disinfection-by-product precursor removal by different materials”. It is designed to help in the identification, selection and design of the most effective adsorbents (both AC and innovative adsorbent materials) and operational configurations to prevent DBPs formation by NOM removal. As the output strictly depends on the origin of water and of the NOM to be retained, four different scenarios were considered and tested in three different case studies. I. Conversion from non-disinfected to disinfected drinking water supply (CS1B, tested by UBA); II. Upgrade of currently disinfected systems targeting precursors removal (CS3T, tested by CAT); III. Development of innovative adsorbent materials (CS2M, tested by POLIMI); IV. Proposal of new treatment line scheme with pre-chlorination followed by adsorption (tested by EUT).
Carlo Punta (Mon,) studied this question.