Characterization of dissolved organic matter in water by using spectrometric and chromatographic techniques

Abstract

Water as an essential resource to life, requires the best sanitary quality possible for human consumption. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is present in surface water and groundwater; due to their organoleptic characteristics and the possibility of forming by-products in various stages of purification, it must be eliminated in treatment plants. There are different processes for removing the DOM, which affected its effectiveness due to the concentration and characteristics of the DOM. Therefore, to optimize the water purification processes is very important to know these parameters in the different stages. For this reason, in this project the different components of the DOM (such as humic and fulvic fraction, or protein fraction) have been characterized at different stages of the purification process. The samples come from the treatment plant to the river Llobregat located in Sant Joan Despí. The characterization was carried out by using excitation-emission fluorescence (EEM) and size exclusion liquid chromatography (HPLC-SEC) with fluorescence detection, which allowed us to obtain information about the nature of the fractions and their molecular weight