ENHANCED REMOVAL OF AROMATIC AMINO ACID FROM WATERS OF VARIABLE MINERALIZATION USING ALUMINUM SULFATE AND POWDERED ACTIVATED CARBON

N. BACHA, S. ACHOUR

Abstract


Aromatic amino acids are key constituents of dissolved organic nitrogen in natural and contaminated waters. Their presence in drinking water sources is of increasing concern due to their reactivity with disinfectants, leading to the formation of nitrogenous disinfection by-products (N-DBPs), which are often more toxic than carbon-based analogs. This study evaluates the removal of a representative aromatic amino acid, phenylalanine, using aluminum sulfate (AS) as a coagulant, both alone and in combination with powdered activated carbon (PAC), in water matrices exhibiting different levels of mineralization.

Jar-test experiments were conducted using distilled water and three Algerian groundwater samples characterized by increasing electrical conductivity and hardness. Coagulation with AS alone resulted in limited phenylalanine removal (18.66% to 30.09%), especially in mineralized waters. This low efficiency is attributed to phenylalanine’s low polarity and zwitterionic nature, as well as to ionic interference with aluminum speciation and floc formation.

The addition of PAC significantly improved removal efficiency across all water types, achieving up to 87.2%. A consistent optimal PAC dose (70 mg/L) was observed regardless of mineralization level, indicating that adsorption is primarily governed by interactions between phenylalanine and the PAC surface. Among all samples, water with moderate mineralization exhibited the highest removal efficiency in the combined AS–PAC process, likely due to favourable conditions for both flocculation and adsorption.

These results demonstrate that conventional coagulation alone is insufficient for effective removal of low-polarity amino acids in mineralized waters. However, combining coagulation with adsorption provides a robust and scalable strategy for reducing aromatic amino acid concentrations, thereby limiting the formation of hazardous disinfection by-products in treated drinking water.


Keywords


Amino acid, Algerian water, Mineralization, Aluminum sulfate, Powdered activated carbon, Coagulation-flocculation, Mechanisms.

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References


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