Assimilable organic carbon (AOC) and biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC): Complementary measurements

    Authors

    I. C. Escobar;A. A. Randall

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Water Res.

    Keywords

    assimilable organic carbon (AOC); biodegradable dissolved organic carbon; (BDOC); biostability; membrane filtration; NANOFILTRATION MEMBRANES; DRINKING-WATER; MATTER; SYSTEM; OZONE; NF; Engineering, Environmental; Environmental Sciences; Water Resources

    Abstract

    The objective of this study was to evaluate the necessity of measuring both assimilable organic carbon (AOC) and biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC) as indicators of bacterial regrowth potential. AOC and BDOC have often been measured separately as indicators of bacterial regrowth, or together as indicators of bacterial regrowth and disinfection by-product formation potential, respectively. However, this study proposes that both AOC and BDOC should be used as complementary measurements of bacterial regrowth potential. In monitoring of full-scale membrane filtration, it was determined that nanofiltration (NF) removed over 90% of the BDOC while allowing the majority of the AOC through. Heterotrophic plate counts (HPC) remained low during the entire period of monitoring due to high additions of disinfectant residual. In a two-year monitoring of a water treatment plant that switched its treatment process from chlorination to chlorination and ozonation, it was observed that the plant effluent AOC increased by 127% while BDOC increased by 49% after the introduction of ozone. Even though AOC is a fraction of BDOC, measuring only one of these parameters can potentially under- or over-estimate the bacterial regrowth potential of the water. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Water Research

    Volume

    35

    Issue/Number

    18

    Publication Date

    1-1-2001

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    4444

    Last Page

    4454

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000172436800023

    ISSN

    0043-1354

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