Bromamines (NH2Br, NHBr2, NBr3) play an important role in drinking water disinfection and disinfection byproduct (DBP)
formation, both of which are affected by bromamine kinetics. The decomposition of bromamines was
been investigated in this study for the pH range of 6.6 to 9.4 using a stopped-flow system. The paper presents a
kinetic model describing the conversion between NH2Br and NHBr2, and subsequent decomposition
reactions is proposed to describe the relatively rapid disappearance of total bromamines as well as the
concentration profiles of each species when the N/Br ratio is above 1.
The disproportionation reaction is a general acid catalyzed reaction, affected by solution pH and buffer
compounds. At relatively high solution pH, when NH2Br is the dominant species, bromamines mainly
decompose through the 3rd reaction given above. However, at relatively low solution pH, when NHBr2 is
predominant, the 2nd reaction occurs more rapidly. The proposed model provides a mechanistic approach
to evaluate bromamine decomposition. Includes 10 references, tables, figures.