Tracking of Dissolved Effluent Organic Matter (dEfOM) in wastewater treatment plant by using fluorescence method

Abstract

Discharge of wastewater into water body can change the quantity and quality of natural organic matter (NOM) in source water, because wastewater may contain dissolved effluent organic matter (dEfOM). dEfOM consists of a heterogenous mixture of organic compounds with various structures, such as dissolved organic matter, microbial by-products, endocrine disrupting compound, etc. The objectives of this study is to track the fate of dEfOM by using fluorescence excitation emission matrices (FEEMs) in order to apply of reclaimed water from industrial wastewater. Tracking of NOM was observed in industrial park of wastewater treatment, which is consist of equalization tank, coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, activated sludge tank and clarifier tank. FEEMs with parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) analysis decomposed the organic matter in wastewater into two components, namely component C1 at (Ex/Em): 330(235)/410 is humic acid like and fulvic, component C2 at (Ex/Em): 280(230)/350 is soluble microbial products and aromatic protein. Characteristic of dEfOM depends on the wastewater characteristic and its treatment processes.