Efficacy of Pulsed UV-Light Treatment on Wastewater Effluent Disinfection and Suspended Solid Reduction
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 6
Abstract
Disinfection of municipal wastewater effluents is a critical component of water pollution control. To achieve this, novel alternative disinfection technologies have been getting attention recently such as pulsed ultraviolet (UV) light, which can be used to inactivate microorganisms in a short time. Therefore, the research reported in this paper was undertaken to determine the efficacy of pulsed UV light for inactivation of Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis spores, in synthetic and real municipal wastewater effluent. The results with synthetic municipal wastewater effluent demonstrated that complete inactivation was obtained with an 8-cm sample distance, 30-mL sample volume, and 15-s time combination for E. coli [ colony-forming units reduction], whereas a 15-mL sample volume (with the same sample distance and treatment time) was required for B. subtilis ( reduction) at total energy dose of . A response surface model was developed to predict the inactivation for E. coli and B. subtilis spores. Using sterilized real wastewater effluent with the same experimental conditions of an 8-cm distance and 30-mL volume for E. coli, and 8-cm distance and 15-mL volume for B. subtilis, complete inactivation required the same 15-s treatment for E. coli, but 20-s treatment for B. subtilis. In addition, a 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 25% () E. coli or B. subtilis inoculum was added to the synthetic municipal wastewater effluent, and treated by pulsed UV-light for 5–45 s. Results showed that pulsed UV treatment at the optimum conditions increased suspended solids removal by 26.5 and 21.45%, for E. coli and B. subtilis, respectively. Overall, the results of the research reported in this paper clearly demonstrated the complete inactivation of vegetative cells or spores in municipal wastewater effluents, and further demonstrated the reduction of suspended solids, suggesting that pulsed UV light has the potential to be used for disinfection of municipal wastewater effluent.
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Acknowledgments
The research reported in this paper was supported in part by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station. The writers are thankful to the Xenon Corporation, Wilmington, Massachusetts, for providing technical assistance for the pulsed UV system, and to Alex Roll in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Pennsylvania State University for providing assistance with COD and TOC analyses.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 6 • June 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 16, 2013
Accepted: Oct 15, 2014
Published online: Nov 21, 2014
Discussion open until: Apr 21, 2015
Published in print: Jun 1, 2015
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