Virus Removal and Inactivation by Physical-Chemical Waste Treatment

A prototype of a packaged sanitary wastewater treatment system employing physical-chemical processes was evaluated for its ability to remove and inactivate enteric viruses. The treatment system, consisting of comminution, chlorination, activated carbon adsorption, alum flocculation, and vacuum filtration using diatomaceous earth as a filter aid, was designed for a variety of situations where conventional biological treatment is impractical. Both simulated marine sewage and simulated river water to which vaccine strain type 1 poliovirus was added as a marker were used as influent wastewater. The treatment system was capable of reducing the total amount of virus in the wastewater from about 99.96% reduction when marine sewage was processed, and from over 99.9996% reduction when simulated river water was processed. However, about 2.6 and 0.16% of the total influent virus was detectable in filter cake solids from raw sewage and from simulated river water, respectively. The degree of virus reduction in the treatment system is superior to that obtained in conventional primary and secondary wastewater treatment.