Characterization of the dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the Besos river by molecular fluorescence. Influence of different water treatments

Abstract

To guarantee water quality parameters for human consumption and industrial uses, it is treated to eliminate the largest portion of organic matter that derives from vegetation and aquatic organisms that are generally resistant to certain degradation processes. Organic matter in water is made up of thousands of very diverse components, from macroscopic particles to dissolved macromolecules. The difficulty in removing this matter increases when the particles are dissolved. The fraction of dissolved organic matter is called DOM and is divided into two groups: protein-like and humic-like substances. The complexity of this matter, especially of the second group, as will be observed with the treatments used, pose a great difficulty to be removed. This study aims to evaluate the performance of different water treatments from the Besos river aquifer to eliminate dissolved organic matter (DOM), by using Fluorescence Emission-Excitation matrices (EEMF) as a monitoring technique due to the DOM fluorescent properties. Subsequently, the DOM fraction has been characterized from the data processed with the PARAFAC tool. The maximum emission and excitation wavelengths allow the identification protein-like and humic-like fractions. However, it should be noted that we can only know its nature.