Phenols and amine induced HO* generation during the initial phase of natural water ozonation.

The initial phase of ozone decomposition in natural water (t < 20 s) is poorly understood. It has recently been shown to result in very high transient HO* concentrations and, thereby, plays an essential role during processes such as bromate formation or contaminants oxidation. Phenols and amines are ubiquitous moieties of natural organic matter. Naturally occurring concentrations of primary, secondary, and tertiary amines, amino acids, and phenol were added to surface water, and ozone decomposition as well as HO* generation were measured starting 350 milliseconds after ozone addition. Six seconds into the process, 5 microM of dimethylamine and phenol had generated integral of HO* dt = 1 x 10(-10) M*s and 1.8 x 10(-10) M*s, respectively. With 10 microM dimethylamine and 1.5 mg O3/L, R(ct), (integral of HO*dt/ integral of O3dt) reached 10(-6), which is larger than in advanced oxidation processes (AOP) such as O3/H2O2. Experiments in the presence of HO*-scavengers indicated that a significant fraction of phenol-induced ozone decomposition and HO* generation results from a direct electron transfer to ozone. For dimethylamine, the main mechanism of HO* generation is direct formation of O2*- which reacts selectively with O3 to form O3*-. Pretreatment of phenol-containing water with HOCl or HOBr did not decrease HO* generation, while the same treatment of dimethylamine-containing water considerably reduced HO* generation.