Abstract
Recently, the results of vital tissue test showed that nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) as a disinfection by-product (DBP), could be regarded as a carcinogen because a tumor was observed in organs. U.S.EPA indicated 0.7 ng/L as exposure concentration of NDMA based on a risk assessment target with a lifetime cancer risk of $10^{-6}$. Several recent studies have shown that UV oxidation could remove NDMA. However, UV oxidation is uneconomical and can reform NDMA after treating. In addition, the treatment mechanism of adsorption has not been founddue to the uncertainty of NDMA pathway. In addtion, NDMA has a radioisotope $^{14}C$-labeled which can be analyzed at low concentration of NDMA by Liquid Scintillation Counter (LSC). This study has investigated NDMA determination using LSC at an extremely low range from 1 to 100 ng/L and NDMA removal by powdered activated carbon (PAC) adsorption. For $^{14}C$-NDMA by LSC, the highest correlation over 99% between count number and NDMA concentrationwas obtained with possibility of $^{14}C$-NDMA concentration up to 1 ng/L. In the presence of PAC ranging from 50 to 10,000 mg/L, $^{14}C$-NDMA was removed from 18% to 97% for Sigma-Aldrich corporation (S-A co.) and from 9% to 93% by PAC for Daejung corporation (Dj co.). Hence it was found that the removal efficiency by PAC adsorption could vary depending on PAC types from different companies. For PAC adsorption capacity of $^{14}C$-NDMA using the Freundlich isotherm, $K_f$ and 1/n of PAC from S-A co. were $2.67\times10^{-3}$ ng/mg and 1.009, while those of PAC from Dj co. were $1.30\times10^{-3}$ ng/mg and 0.994, respectively. Thus, PAC from S-A co. showed twice higher adsorption capacity than Dj co.
