Influence of Natural Organic Matter (NOM) on the Speciation of Aluminum during Water Treatment

Natural organic matter (NOM) is a term collectively used to describe the complex matrix of organic material present in natural waters. The impact of NOM on the speciation of aluminum at Buffalo Pound water treatment plant was evaluated in the present study using fulvic acid. The first stage of the study was to conduct aluminum (Al) speciation experiments (using background dissolved organic carbon levels present in the raw water) at the pilot scale water treatment plant located within the main plant changing the aluminum sulfate (alum) dose from 68 mg L-1 (yearly average dose of the main plant) to 34 mg L-1. The second stage of the study was to conduct jar tests at various alum/DOC ratios. Pilot scale speciation study showed that when the alum/DOC ratio was 5.3, most of the total aluminum in the filtered water was in the form of particulate aluminum. Such an increased particulate aluminum level did not increase the finished water turbidity. Soluble organic aluminum also increased compared to the level in raw water when the alum/DOC ratio was 5.3. Al speciation study conducted during jar testing showed that organically bound aluminum increased from 8 μg L-1 (raw water) to 15 μg L-1 in the finishedwater when the alum/DOC = 1.37. Jar test results also showed that an alum/DOC of at least 7.3 should be maintained in the main plant in order to meet the proposed operating guidelines of 100 μg L-1 of total aluminum by Health Canada given the conditions that finished water soluble aluminum levels may be in the range of 35–40 μg L-1.