INFLUENCE OF CHARACTERIZED NATURAL ORGANIC MATERIAL ON ACTIVATED CARBON ADSORPTION .1. CHARACTERIZATION OF CONCENTRATED RESERVOIR WATER

Natural organic material (NOM) from Myponga Reservoir in South Austral ia was concentrated and fractionated using ultrafiltration into nomina l molecular weight fractions <500, 500-3000, 3000-10,000, 10,000-30,00 0 and >30,000. The fractions were characterised using how field-flow f ractionation, C-13 NMR, colour determination and potentiometric titrat ion. The ultrafiltration fractions displayed a gradual transformation from highly coloured, highly branched,high carbohydrate structures to compounds with a prevalence of long chain aliphatic carbon with much l ower carbohydrate content and colour. There were no clear trends in th e carboxyl content of the fractions, as determined by both NMR and tit ration. Analysis of the titration data showed evidence of three distin ct types of carboxyl groups and the same types of groups were present in each fraction. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.