What is disinfection?
Partial destruction of disease-causing organisms
Disinfection is different from sterilization
Disinfection methods and means
• Chemical agents
• Physical agents
• Mechanical means
• Radiation
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Aquatic pathogens
Microorganisms that are capable of causing
human diseases (often fatal):
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Common disinfection methods
Chlorination
Ozonation
UV irradiation
UV irradiation in combination with ozone
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Introduction
Surface waters usually contain organic
compounds and pathogens, leading to
the need of disinfection.
Chlorination is the mostly used method
of disinfection. However, chlorination of
water containing organic substances
forms organic chlorine compounds that
are dangerous to humans.
Contact of the mucous membranes of
the esophagus, stomach and intestines
with these carcinogens can cause
cancer of the digestive system.
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Introduction
Oxidative processes can be classified as follows:
natural, which include the treatment of water in nature under the
influence of air oxygen, as well as under the influence of solar
radiation
artificial, when the treatment is done by effective oxidants
(О3, Н2О2, KMnO4 , ClO2, Cl2, HClO–, ClO etc.)
special, such as thermo-oxidative, photocatalyst, electro-
chemical, and radiation methods
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Chlorination
Chlorine and its compounds possess a high bactericidal effect. It
is explained by the action of chlorine and its compounds on cell
protoplasm enzymes. This leads to a more or less rapid death of
the microorganisms.
Examples for reaction times:
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Different forms of chlorine
Chlorine (Cl2)
Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl)
Calcium hypochlorite (Ca (OCl)2
Chlorine dioxide (ClO2)
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Chlorination
The action of chlorine is varying depending on pH.
Dosing of chlorine into the water forms hypochlorous acid (HOCl)
and hydrochloric acid:
Сl2 + H2O → HOCl + HCl
HOCl H+ + OCL-
Increasing the pH of water leads to the formation of hypochlorite
ions ClO-:
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The mechanism of chlorination
A penetration into the cell of Factors
micro-organisms with Chemical form of
subsequent blocking of an chlorine
essential enzyme
pH
Destruction of cell walls
Concentration
Contact time
Type of organism
Suspended solids
Temperature
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Chlorination
Reaction of chlorine with ammonia and amines forms
Monochloramine - NH2Cl
Dichloramine - NHCl2
Chlorine in the form of chloramine is called combined available
chlorine
Sources of the "active" chlorine are hypochlorites, chlorites, and
chlorine dioxide
As chlorine is added to water, it reacts with constituents until
residuals are produced – total residual chlorine
Сl2 , OCL- and HOCl - free chlorine residual
Chloramines – combined available chlorine residuals
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Breakpoint chlorination
B
A
C
D
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A – applied chlorine is immediately consumed by
readily oxidizable substances such as Fe2+, Mn2+, H2S,
NO2 –
B – Chlorine reacts with organics compounds,
ammonia, and amines to produce chloro-organic
species and chloramines
C – dichloramines is decomposed to nitrogen
trichlorides (NHCl2 + HOCl NCl3 +H2O ) , the
remaining will be oxidized to N2O and N2
D – all destructible chloramines and chloro-organic
compounds are decomposed and in which free
chlorine residual begin to appear is called breakpoint
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Residual chlorine
Residual chlorine is to be present in drinking water. It is very
volatile, and small concentrations can quickly evaporate from the
water. However, free chlorine represents a serious danger to
human health at high concentrations.
Standards of residual chlorine in drinking water:
Residual chlorine The concentration of residual Time required for chlorine to
chlorine, mg/L contact with water, min, not
less than
1. Free 0.3-0.5 30
2. Combined 0.8-1.2 60
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Risk of disinfection byproducts (DBPs)
Reactions of chlorine with natural organics such
as fulvic and humic acids produce DBPs
• Trihalomethane (THM) – suspected carcinogen
• The primary drinking water standard is 0.1 mg/L
• Phenolic compounds react with chlorine to form DBPs
• Avoid use of chlorine – substitute with chloramines
• Removal of DBPs by activated carbon
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Ozonation
A total virulent and bactericidal
effect is achieved when using
ozone.
Ozone oxidation can effectively
decolorize both drinking water and
waste water.
It improves the taste, eliminates
odors and flavors, and guarantees
a thorough disinfection of the
water.
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Ozonation generation
In nature, ozone gas is found in the upper atmosphere.
Since ozone is chemically unstable, it must be generated onsite
Electrical discharge method: high voltage is applied across the gap
of narrowly spaced electrodes (in air or oxygen). The high energy
corona created by this arrangement dissociates one oxygen
molecule which reforms with two oxygen molecules
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Ozonation
The decomposition of ozone in water:
In water, the ozone decomposition reaction
mechanism is rather complicated, since the
degradation rate is influenced by many factors:
• the conditions for the transition from the
gaseous ozone into the liquid phase,
• the ratio between the partial pressure of
the gas
• its solubility in aqueous solution
• the kinetics of oxidation
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Ozonation
The oxidation by ozone:
The action of ozone in an oxidation process can occur in three
different ways:
• direct oxidation with one oxygen atom
• the accession of the whole molecule of ozone to the
oxidizing agents to form ozonides
• increased catalytic oxidizing action of oxygen present in the
ozonized air
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UV irradiation for disinfection
Classification:
UV-radiation covers a wavelength range from 100 to 400 nm.
Rays with a wavelength of 100-200 nm are called vacuum or
hard ultraviolet. Their energy can suffice for the destruction of
organic molecules. Rays with a wavelength of 200-400 nm that
are generated by special mercury or xenon lamps, are widely
used for the disinfection of air and water.
UV installation for
water disinfection
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UV irradiation for disinfection
Effect on microorganisms:
Only a part of the spectrum of UV-radiation in the wavelength
range 205-315 nm with maximum effectiveness at 260±10 nm
has a disinfection effect.
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UV irradiation for disinfection
Irradiation dose:
The effectiveness of water disinfection (the portion of micro-
organisms killed by UV irradiation) is proportional to the light
intensity (mW/cm2) and the contact time (s).
The product of these two quantities is called irradiation dose
(mJ/cm2). It is a measure of the bactericidal power transferred
to the microorganisms.
The minimum dose of UV irradiation for the disinfection of
drinking water is 16 mJ/cm2. It provides a reduction of patho-
genic bacteria in the water by at least 5 orders of magnitude
(logs), and of indicator bacteria by 2-6 logs. The dose also
reduces the amount of viruses by 2-3 logs.
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UV irradiation for disinfection
Advantages of UV disinfection:
The most important advantage of UV water treatment is the
absence of a change of its physical and chemical characteristics
even at doses much higher than practically necessary.
Other advantages are:
• versatile effects and high effectiveness on the inactivation of
various microorganisms in water
• ecological, safe for human life and health
• low operating costs
• low capital cost
• ease of maintenance facilities
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UV irradiation for disinfection
Disadvantages of UV disinfection:
A serious drawback of UV disinfection is the absence of an
aftereffect, i.e. purified water can become contaminated again
in subsequent stages of processing or transport.
UV irradiation kills microorganisms in water, but the cell walls
of bacteria, fungi and viruses remain in the water. When used
as a drinking water it is desirable to remove them by means of
fine filtration.
A combination of UV irradiation and ozonation is an efficient
way to overcome some of the shortcomings.
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UV irradiation in combination with ozone
Oxidative water treatment processes can be significantly
enhanced when used in conjunction with ultrasound or
ultraviolet irradiation (UV). UV can accelerate oxidation
reactions by a factor of 102-104.
• The oxidation process can be divided into two stages:
• photochemical excitation of molecules by UV irradiation
• oxidation by ozone
Mercury lamps with
different pressure
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Post-chlorination
During ozonation and/or UV water treatment, highly reactive
radicals are the basis of high efficiencies.
However, these radicals react readily with a variety of impurities
in the water and on the walls of pipes and devices, which leads
to their rapid disappearance. Therefore, regrowth of micro-
organisms in treated water (secondary pollution) is possible.
In order to counteract regrowth, post-chlorination is applied in
many places after ozonation and UV treatment.
Post-chlorination makes it also possible to transport treated
water to consumers over long distances without a decrease of
its hygienic quality.
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References
Okabe, H.: Photochemistry of small molecules. Wiley Interscience, New York 1978;
Russian edition: Moscow 1981.
Razumovskiy, S.D. and Zaikov, H.E.: Ozone and its reactions with organic substances -
Kinetics and mechanisms. Moscow 1974 (in Russian).
Rice, R.G. and Browning, M.E.: Ozone for industrial water and waste water treatment.
A literature survey.
US Environmental Protection Agency, Oklahoma 1980, pp. 376 (EPA-600/2-80-60)
Hall, D.O.: Research in Photobiology, ed. by A. Castellany.
Plenum Press, New York 1976, pp 347.
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