Additional UV H2O2 treatment for removal of polar organic micropollutants at Drinking water production site Heel

Previous research had shown that the water of the river Meuse and its tributaries may contain relatively high concentrations of pharmaceuticals and metabolites, up to some dozens of micrograms per liter. Also other (polar) organic micropollutants were observed in the Meuse water, like DMS, glyphosate, AMPA etc. It is expected that factors like demographic developments (“aging”: elder people use more pharmaceuticals) and climate change (resulting in e.g. periods with a low river discharge) will result in higher concentrations of organic micropollutants. Therefore, it was decided to investigate whether a UV/H2 O2
process may be applied at the WML drinking water production site Heel to remove micropollutants. At KWR a model has been developed which describes the conversion of organic micropollutants in a UV/H2 O2 reactor. This model was used to optimize the geometry of the UV reactor. Several types of optimized reactors (for different water quality and flows) were built by Van Remmen UV Techniek, and tested both at Van Remmen and at Dunea. One type of reactor, D200 equipped with two flowplates and low pressure (LP) UV lamps, was tested in a pilot set-up at site Heel during this project.