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Ultraviolet disinfection of fecal coliform in municipal wastewater: Effects of particle size

  • SUNY Buffalo
  • United States Environmental Protection Agency

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

62 Scopus citations

Abstract

Suspended solids interfere with the efficiency of disinfection using UV radiation by decreasing the rate of disinfection and inducing tailing. However, conventional measures of solids (total suspended solids, turbidity, and UV transmittance) do not adequately predict the presence or degree of these effects. Bacteria and viruses can become associated with particles in wastewater. A fractionation technique was developed to separate particle-associated bacteria into three fractions, based on particle size. The results show that the degree to which particles interfere with UV disinfection efficiency is dependent on particle size. The small size fraction (<5 μm) consistently produced a statistically significant faster disinfection rate than the large fraction (>20 μm), with the unfiltered sample and the medium fraction (particles >5 μm, but <20 μm) between the two extremes. Tailing also was observed only in the large fraction. Correlations between the disinfection rate constant and the percentage of large fraction bacteria of a sample were good.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)294-304
Number of pages11
JournalWater Environment Research
Volume78
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2006

Keywords

  • Fecal coliform
  • Particles
  • Suspended solids
  • UV
  • Wastewater disinfection

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