Modeling Nicotine-Induced Chlorine Loss in Drinking Water Using Updated EPANET-MSX

• Published in: Journal of environmental engineering (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 149; no. 12; pp. 1 - 9
• Main Authors: Burkhardt, Jonathan B, Burkhart, Benjamen, Shang, Feng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society of Civil Engineers 01-12-2023
• Subjects: Chemical reactions; Chlorine; Dispersion; Drinking water; Experimental data; Mass balance; Modelling; Nicotine; Programming languages; Water distribution; Water distribution systems; Water engineering; Water quality; Water security
• ISSN: 0733-9372; 1943-7870
• DOI: 10.1061/JOEEDU.EEENG-7433

Multispecies water quality modeling is critical for simulating complex chemical reactions in drinking water distribution systems. An updated EPANET 2.2-compatible version of EPANET multi-species eXtension (EPANET-MSX) was used, which included dispersion and improved mass balance reporting, to simulate an experimental study. The use of EPANET-MSX was supplemented by an automated Python script to process experimental data, handle model execution, and analyze results. Nicotine-associated chlorine loss in drinking water-initially investigated from a drinking water security perspective-modeled with EPANET-MSX was compared with bottle test and test injection data. Two reaction models were tested (with and without a reactive intermediate), and the model that included a reactive intermediate nicotine species using dispersion was found to produce the best model agreement with experimental data. These results provide a demonstration of the new features within EPANETMSX in the context of the nicotine-chlorine reaction.