The influence of natural organic matter particle size on the haloacetic acids formation potential

The paper presents the results of experiments on the influence of particle size of natural organic matter on the haloacetic acids formation potential. The experiments were conducted on water samples taken from rivers nearby Krakow. Organic matter of each sample was separated with membrane filters into fractions of a different particle size: < 0.1 mu m, 0.1-0.22 mu m, 0.22-0.45 mu m and > 0.45 mu m. The samples from this fractionation were chlorinated with sodium hypochlorite. Its dose was adjusted to obtain a residual free chlorine concentration between 3 and 5 mg/dm(3) after 24 hours. After this time, the water chlorination by-products were analyzed with a gas chromatography. The result of the research, namely the fractions, which have the highest potential to form the particular organic water chlorination by-products, have been defined.