Optimization of an Advanced Water Treatment Plant: Bromate Control and Biofiltration Improvement

The David L. Tippin Water Treatment Facility (DLTWTF) serving the city of Tampa, Florida is an advanced drinking water treatment facility consisting of coagulation/flocculation, ozonation, granular activated carbon biofiltration, and disinfection by chloramine. New regulations and the recent economic crisis pushed the facility to investigate methods to decrease costs and meet regulatory requirements easier. The two major issues identified as priorities for investigation were the optimization of the biofiltration system and the use of a novel process to reduce the formation of bromate during ozonation. Optimization of the biofiltration system is needed to remove more of the assorted particles that cause biofilms, nitrification in the distribution system, and high chloramine demand. Previous work improved the removal of particles that cause biofilms and nitrification, but was not able address the removal of particles that cause high chloramine demand to a satisfactory degree. Possible factors affecting this high chloramine decay were identified and evaluated at the pilot scale, including filter depth, chloramination of filter backwash water, media material, and nutrient addition. Non-chlorinated backwash water reduced chloramine demand by approximately 30% for GAC filters, and by approximately 50% for anthracite. Generally, anthracite performed slightly worse than GAC. Nutrient addition showed no effect. Filter depth improved chloramine decay, but not significantly enough to warrant the increased material required Bromate control is necessary to prevent the formation of bromate, a regulated carcinogen. Traditional bromate control methods use pH depression. While effective, at the DLTWTF, this forces the increased use of more expensive caustic soda over lime for raising the pH of process water. A novel process known as the chlorine-ammonia process was investigated at the bench scale to identify the ideal ratio of chlorine and ammonia to decrease the formation of bromate to ensure regulatory compliance and allow greater use of lime to decrease costs. The best ratio in this study is 0.45 mg/L NH3 to 0.75 mg/L Cl2 which produced 1.09 ppb bromate at a CT of 6.8 min*mg/L, representing a 84% improvement over the control