Environmental and Ecological Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
Civil and Construction Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
Chemosphere. 2024 Oct;365:143251. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.143251. Epub 2024 Sep 2.
Activated carbon (AC) systems and reverse osmosis (RO) systems are commonly used point-of-use (POU) water filtration systems for removing trace-level contaminants in tap water to protect human health. However, limited research has been done to evaluate their effectiveness in removing heavy metals like manganese (Mn) and uranium (U), or to assess the potential for undesired microbial growth within POU systems, which can reduce their treatment efficiency. This study aimed to systematically evaluate the removal of metals and assimilable organic carbon (AOC) in POU systems. AC systems were operated to 200% of their designed treatment capacities and RO systems were run for three weeks. The results showed that AC systems were generally ineffective at removing metals from drinking water, while RO systems effectively removed them. Both Mn and U were poorly removed by AC systems. Calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) were poorly removed by AC systems, with efficiencies of less than 1%. Iron (Fe) removal by AC systems varied between 61% and 84%. Copper (Fe), likely due to its low influent concentration (<30 μg L), was effectively removed by AC systems with efficiencies over 95%. In contrast, RO systems consistently removed all metals effectively. Mn and U removal in RO systems exceeded 95%, while Ca, Mn, Fe, and Cu were all removed with efficiencies greater than 98%. AOC was effectively removed from all AC and RO systems, but with high variability in removal efficiency, which is likely attributed to the heterogeneity of biofilm and microbial growth within the POU systems. The new knowledge generated from this study can improve our understanding of chemical contaminant removal in POU systems and inform the development of better strategies for designing and operating POU systems to remove chemical contaminants in drinking water and mitigate their associated health risks.
活性炭 (AC) 系统和反渗透 (RO) 系统是常用于去除自来水中痕量污染物以保护人类健康的现场 (POU) 水过滤系统。然而，对于评估它们去除锰 (Mn) 和铀 (U) 等重金属的效果，或评估 POU 系统中潜在的不良微生物生长对其处理效率的影响的研究还很有限。本研究旨在系统评估 POU 系统对金属和可同化有机碳 (AOC) 的去除效果。AC 系统的运行处理能力达到其设计处理能力的 200%，RO 系统运行了三周。结果表明，AC 系统通常无法有效去除饮用水中的金属，而 RO 系统则能有效去除。Mn 和 U 均不易被 AC 系统去除。AC 系统对 Ca 和 Mg 的去除效率均低于 1%，去除效果较差。AC 系统对 Fe 的去除率在 61%至 84%之间变化。由于其进水浓度较低 (<30μg/L)，Cu 很容易被 AC 系统去除，去除效率超过 95%。相比之下，RO 系统始终能有效去除所有金属。RO 系统对 Mn 和 U 的去除率均超过 95%，而 Ca、Mn、Fe 和 Cu 的去除率均大于 98%。所有 AC 和 RO 系统均能有效去除 AOC，但去除效率存在较大差异，这可能归因于 POU 系统中生物膜和微生物生长的异质性。本研究产生的新知识可以提高我们对 POU 系统中化学污染物去除的理解，并为设计和运行 POU 系统以去除饮用水中的化学污染物和减轻其相关健康风险提供更好的策略。
