Modeling free chlorine and chloramine decay in a pilot distribution system

The purpose of this study was to identify the effect that water quality, pipe material, pipe size, flow conditions and the use of corrosion inhibitors would have on the rate of free chlorine and chloramine decay in distribution systems. Empirical models were developed to predict the disinfectant residual concentration with time based on the parameters that affected it. Different water treatment processes were used to treat groundwater and surface water to obtain 7 types of finished waters with a wide range of water quality characteristics. The groundwater was treated either by conventional treatment by aeration (G1) or softening (G2) or high pressure reverse osmosis (RO) and the surface water was treated either by enhanced coagulation, ozonation and GAC filtration (CSF-O 3-GAC or S1) or an integrated membrane system (CSF-NF or S2). The remaining two water types were obtained by treating a blend of G1, S1 and RO by softening (S2) and nanofiltration (G4).; A pilot distribution systems (PDS) consisting of eighteen (18) lines was built using old pipes obtained from existing distribution system. The pipe materials used were polyvinyl chloride (PVC), lined cast iron (LCI), unlined cast iron (UCI) and galvanized steel (G). During the first stage of the study, the 7 types of water were blended and fed to the PDS to study the effect of feed water quality changes on PDS effluent water quality, and specifically disinfectant residual. Both free chlorine and chloramines were used as disinfectant and the PDSs were operated at hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 2 and 5 days. The PDSs were periodically tested for free and combined chlorine, organic content, temperature, pH, turbidity and color.; The data obtained were used to develop separate models for free chlorine and chloramines. The best fit model was a first-order kinetic model with respect to initial disinfectant concentration that is dependent on the pipe material, pipe diameter and the organic content and temperature of the water. Turbidity, color and pH were found to be not significant for the range of values observed. The models contain two decay constants, the first constant (KB) accounts for the decay due to reaction in the bulk liquid and is affected by the organics and temperature while the second constant, KW, represents the reactions at the pipe wall and is affected by the temperature of the water and the pipe material and diameter. The rate of free chlorine and chloramine decay was found to be highly affected by the pipe material, the decay was faster in unlined metallic pipes (UCI and G) and slower in the synthetic (PVC) and lined pipes (LCI). The models showed that the rate of disinfectant residual loss increases with the increase of temperature or the organics in the water irrespective of pipe material.; During the second part of the study, corrosion control inhibitors were added to a blend of S1, G1 and RO that fed all the hybrid PDSs. The inhibitors used were: orthophosphate, blended ortho-polyphosphate, zinc orthophosphate and sodium silicate. Three PDSs were used for each inhibitor type, for a total of 12 PDSs, to study the effect of low, medium and high dose on water quality. Two PDSs were used as control, fed with the blend without any inhibitor addition. The control PDSs were used to observe the effect of pH control on water quality and compare to the inhibitor use. One of the control PDSs (called PDS 13) had the pH adjusted to be equal to the saturation pH in relation to calcium carbonate precipitation (pHs) while the pH of the other control PDS (PDS 14) was adjusted to be 0.3 pH units above the pHs. The disinfectant used for this part of the study was chloramine and the flow rates were set to obtain a HRT of 2 days.; The chloramine demand was the same for PDS 14 and all the PDSs receiving inhibitors. PDS 13 had a chloramine demand greater than any other PDS. The lowest chloramine demand was observed in PDS 12, which received silicate inhibitor at a dose of 12 mg/...