Ozone: its effect on coagulation and filtration

The interest in ozone for drinking water treatment in the United States has increased dramatically in recent years due to new regulations and concern over Cryptosporidium. Ozone has many benefits, however, its expense is significant and its placement in the treatment train should be chosen with a sound understanding of its effect on other unit processes. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of the effect of ozone on the coagulation and filtration processes. This is important given the enhanced coagulation requirements of the disinfection by-product rule and the filtered water quality goals of the Partnership for Safe Water. The effect of ozone on coagulation is shown to be dependent on the coagulant type and on the water quality characteristic that is setting the optimum coagulant dose. For waters with moderate to high dissolved organic carbon (DOC) levels, the coagulant dose is set by the DOC. Ozonation converts NOM into smaller, more oxygenated compounds, e.g. oxalic acid, that exert a greater metal salt coagulant demand than the parent compounds. In this case, higher dosages of alum or ferric chloride are needed. For low DOC waters, the coagulant dose is set by the particle and the adsorbed organic matter. Ozone may react with adsorbed DOC and alter the amount and conformation of adsorbed organic matter, which can lead to a decrease in the optimum coagulant dose. Finally, because cationic polymers react with particles and large organic matter (and not the smaller compounds formed after ozonation), the optimum polyelectrolyte coagulant dose after ozonation is reduced. Ozonation prior to filtration (intermediate ozonation) is shown to be beneficial for significantly reducing filtered water particle counts by as much as an order of magnitude.