ORCID Profile
0000-0002-5326-6705
Current Organisation
Nanyang Technological University
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Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.WATRES.2017.03.025
Abstract: Recent studies report high concentrations of haloacetic acids (HAAs), a prevalent class of toxic disinfection by-products, in swimming pool water (SPW). We investigated the removal of 9 HAAs by four commercial reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes. Under typical SPW conditions (pH 7.5 and 50 mM ionic strength), HAA rejections were >60% for NF270 with molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) equal to 266 Da and equal or higher than 90% for XLE, NF90 and SB50 with MWCOs of 96, 118 and 152 Da, respectively, as a result of the combined effects of size exclusion and charge repulsion. We further included 7 neutral hydrophilic surrogates as molecular probes to resolve the rejection mechanisms. In the absence of strong electrostatic interaction (e.g., pH 3.5), the rejection data of HAAs and surrogates by various membranes fall onto an identical size-exclusion (SE) curve when plotted against the relative-size parameter, i.e., the ratio of molecular radius over membrane pore radius. The independence of this SE curve on molecular structures and membrane properties reveals that the relative-size parameter is a more fundamental SE descriptor compared to molecular weight. An effective molecular size with the Stokes radius accounting for size exclusion and the Debye length accounting for electrostatic interaction was further used to evaluate the rejection. The current study provides valuable insights on the rejection of trace contaminants by RO/NF membranes.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2008
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2015
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 15-10-2008
DOI: 10.1021/ES801087F
Abstract: The effects of passing ozone over different zeolite and MCM-41 materials to remove toluene were investigated. Different ozone-to-toluene ratios were used to evaluate the catalytic performance during ozonation. The micro- and meso-porous materials removed about 50% of the toluene via adsorption and another 20-40% was decomposed by ozonation, which was catalytically enhanced by the zeolite and MCM-41 materials. The catalytic reaction portion increased by using a higher ozone inlet concentration and it was further enhanced to around 50% with the use of more adsorbents or with longer residence times. Inside the porous structure of the material, ozone was either decomposed into active atomic oxygen for reactions or converted into oxygen for active site regeneration. The number of Lewis acid sites in the adsorbents for ozone decomposition and byproduct generation during the reactions limit the catalytic activities. Trace amounts of intermediates including aldehydes and organic acids were quantified in the ozonation process. A higher ozone inlet concentration helped to reduce intermediate species formation but it led to more residual ozone in the exhaust. The high adsorption capability of the zeolite and MCM-41 adsorbents could serve as reservoirs for suppressing the release of intermediate species to the exhaust.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2019
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2009
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2014
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2008
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.WATRES.2016.05.088
Abstract: Sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) is the most commonly used disinfectant in pool treatment system. Outdoor pools usually suffer from the strong sunlight irradiation which degrades the free chlorine rapidly. In addition, more pools start to adopt the recirculation of swimming pool water, which intensifies the disinfection by-product (DBP) accumulation issue. Given these potential drawbacks of using NaClO in the tropical environment, two alternative organic-based disinfectants, trichloroisocyanuric acid (TCCA, C3Cl3N3O3) and bromochlorodimethylhydantoin (BCDMH, C5H6BrClN2O2), were investigated and compared to NaClO in terms of their self-degradation and the formation of DBPs, including trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs), under simulated tropical climate conditions. The result reveals that halogen stabilizer, TCCA, had the advantages of slower free chlorine degradation and lower DBP concentration compared to NaClO, which makes it a good alternative disinfectant. BCDMH was not recommended mainly due to the highly reactive disinfecting ingredient, hypobromous acid (HBrO), which fails to sustain the continuous disinfection requirement. Total disinfectant dosage was the main factor that affects residual chlorine/bromine and THM/HAA formation regardless of different disinfectant dosing methods, e.g. shock dosing (one-time spiking) in the beginning, and continuous dosing during the whole experimental period. Two-stage second-order-kinetic-based models demonstrate a good correlation between the measured and predicted data for chlorine decay (R(2) ≥ 0.95), THM (R(2) ≥ 0.99) and HAA (R(2) ≥ 0.83) formation. Higher temperature was found to enhance the DBP formation due to the temperature dependence of reaction rates. Thus, temperature control of pools, especially for those preferring higher temperatures (e.g. hydrotherapy and spa), should take both bather comfort and DBP formation potential into consideration. It is also observed that chlorine competition existed between different precursors from natural organic matters (NOM) in filling water and body fluid analogue (BFA). Among the composition of BFA, uric acid, citric acid and hippuric acid were found to be the main precursors for HAA formation.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2021
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 22-09-2010
Publisher: Hindawi Limited
Date: 04-05-2020
DOI: 10.1111/INA.12678
Publisher: ASMEDC
Date: 2007
Abstract: This study investigated the performance of multi-transition metal (Cu, Cr, Ni and Co) ions exchanged zeolite 13X catalysts on methane emission abatement, especially at methane level of the exhaust from natural gas fueled vehicles. Catalytic activity of methane combustion using multi-ions exchanged catalyst was studied under different parameters: mole % of metal loading, inlet velocity and inlet methane concentration at atmospheric pressure and 500 °C. Performance of the catalysts was investigated and explained in terms of the apparent activation energy, number of active sites and BET surface area of the catalyst. This study showed that the multi-ions exchanged catalyst outperformed the single-ions exchanged and the acidified 13X catalysts. Lengthening the residence time could also lead to higher methane conversion %. Catalytic activity of the catalysts was influenced by the mole % of metal loading which played important roles in affecting the apparent activation energy of methane combustion, active sites and also the BET surface area of the catalyst. Increasing mole % of metal loading in the catalyst decreased the apparent activation energy for methane combustion and also the BET surface area of the catalyst. In view of these, there existed an optimized mole % of metal loading where the highest catalytic activity was observed.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2022.157811
Abstract: We evaluated diurnal trends of size-resolved indoor and outdoor fluorescent biological airborne particles (FBAPs) and their contributions to particulate matter (PM) within 0.5-20 μm. After a ten-week continuous s ling via two identical wideband integrated bioaerosol sensors, we found that both indoor and outdoor diurnal trends of PM were driven by its bioaerosol component. Outdoors, the median [interquartile range] FBAP mass concentration peaked at 8.2 [5.8-9.9] μg/m
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.WATRES.2016.11.040
Abstract: We investigated the removal of haloacetic acids (HAAs) from swimming pool waters (SPWs) by two nanofiltration membranes NF270 and NF90. The strong matrix effect (particularly by Ca
No related grants have been discovered for Man Pun WAN.