Reactions of chlorine with inorganic and organic compounds during water treatment - Kinetics and mechanisms: A critical review

Numerous inorganic and organic micropollutants can undergo reactions with chlorine. However, for certain compounds, the expected chlorine reactivity is low and only small modifications in the parent compound's structure are expected under typical water treatment conditions. To better understand/predict chlorine reactions with micropollutants, the kinetic and mechanistic information on chlorine reactivity available in literature was critically reviewed. For most micropollutants, HOCl is the major reactive chlorine species during chlorination processes. In the case of inorganic compounds, a fast reaction of ammonia, halides (Br- and I-), SO32-, CN-, NO-, As(III) and Fe(II) with HOCl is reported (10(3)-10(9) M-1 s(-1)) whereas low chlorine reaction rates with Mn(II) were shown in homogeneous systems. Chlorine reactivity usually results from an initial electrophilic attack of HOCl on inorganic compounds. In the case of organic compounds, second-order rate constants for chlorination vary over 10 orders of magnitude (i.e.