Haloacetic Acids in the Aquatic Environment

ABSTRACT

Haloacetic acids (HAAs) are a class of disinfection by-products (DBPs), widely occurring in drinking water, wastewater and swimming pool water with concentrations at sub-μg/L to mid-μg/L levels. HAAs arose public attention due to their cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and carcinogenicity. Monitoring HAA concentration levels in aqueous environments is required. This review presents an overview of all techniques or methods for sample pretreatment, analysis and removal of HAAs in aqueous environments since 2000. For the pretreatment methods, the commonly used methods are compared and discussed in terms of advantages and drawbacks. Microextraction techniques are preferred as they are efficient, rapid and environment-friendly. Emerging pretreatment methods, such as techniques based on novel materials or liquids, have also been introduced. For the analytical methods, LC and GC coupled with various detectors are frequently used allowing detection at the required low μg/L levels in aquatic environments. The advances in mass spectrometers (MS) and a comparison between their pros and cons are summarized herein. Recent high resolution MS gave give mass accuracy of 0.0001 Da with a resolving power up to 140,000 full width at half maximum height improving feature identifications in nontargeted analyses. For HAA removal methods, advanced oxidation techniques, adsorption and biodegradation were updated, improved and upscaled. Combining two or more removal techniques, the efficiency can reach 99%. Lastly, this review points out critical gaps and proposes future trends.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Haloacetic acids
• pretreatment
• determination
• removal techniques

Highlight

• Occurrence of the HAAs in aqueous environment.

• Typical and emerging pretreatment, determination, and removal methods reviewed.

• Advantages and disadvantages of the pretreatment, analytical, and removal methods were discussed.

• Challenges and prospects for HAA determination and removal were proposed.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Scientific Research Project of the Department of Education of Liaoning Province (ZF2019036).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15422119.2022.2141649.

Author Contributions

Jie LI: Writing–original draft. Yuan ZHANG: Writing–review & editing, Conceptualization. Yu ZHOU: Supervision. Yu BIAN: Editing. Cong HU: Editing. Zhi-hong WANG: Editing, Conceptualization. Xue-song FENG: Conceptualization, Validation.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Scientific Research Project of the Department of Education of Liaoning Province [ZF2019036].