A novel model simulating reclaimed water disinfection by ozonation

Residence time and the concentration of microorganism in the ozone contactor: a CFD simulation on chamber deflectors

Disinfection is an important step in deep drinking water treatment technology. This study applies computational fluid dynamics to investigate and optimize the hydrodynamics inside the ozone contactor. ANSYS Fluent was used to solve all the control equations. A step method is used to simulate the residence time distribution. The mean residence time is simulated under the Eulerian framework. The deflectors are installed in chambers to direct flow. The deflectors allow for a more uniform flow and a longer mean residence time within the contactor. The baffling factor showed that the deflectors could reduce the short-circuit effect in the contactor and improve the disinfection efficiency by 34.6% compared to the original reactor. The Morrill factor coefficient is improved by 22.8% compared to the original reactor. According to the Aral-Demirel index, contactors with deflectors are significantly better than other baffle-type contactors. The presence of the deflectors increased the microbial inactivation efficiency from 95.3 to 96.5%. The optimal deflector height should be controlled between 30 and 60 mm.

Modeling and optimization of synergistic ozone-ultraviolet-chlorine process for reclaimed water disinfection: From laboratory tests to software simulation

The ozone-ultraviolet (UV)-chlorine process is a highly effective method of disinfection in water reuse system, but currently still lacks precise quantification and accurate control. It is difficult to determine the dosage of each disinfectant because of the complex interactions that occur between disinfection units and the complicated mathematical calculation required. In this study, we proposed a dosage optimization model for ozone-UV-chlorine synergistic disinfection process. The model was able to identify the cost-effective doses of the disinfectants under the constraints of microbial inactivation, decolorization, and residual chlorine retention requirements. Specifically, the simulation of microbial inactivation rates during synergistic disinfection process was accomplished through quantification of the synergistic effects between disinfection units and the introduction of enhancement coefficients. In order to solve this optimization model rapidly and automatically, a MATLAB-based software program with graphical user interface was developed. This software consisted of calibration unit, prediction unit, assessment unit, and optimization unit, and was able to simulate synergistic ozone-UV-chlorine process and identify the optimal dose of ozone, UV, and chlorine. Validation experiments revealed good agreements between the experimental data and the results calculated by the developed software. The developed software is believed to help the water reclamation plants improve disinfection efficiency and reduce the operational costs of synergistic disinfection processes.

A review on disinfection methods for inactivation of waterborne viruses

Water contamination is a global health problem, and the need for safe water is ever-growing due to the public health implications of unsafe water. Contaminated water could contain pathogenic bacteria, protozoa, and viruses that are implicated in several debilitating human diseases. The prevalence and survival of waterborne viruses differ from bacteria and other waterborne microorganisms. In addition, viruses are responsible for more severe waterborne diseases such as gastroenteritis, myocarditis, and encephalitis among others, hence the need for dedicated attention to viral inactivation. Disinfection is vital to water treatment because it removes pathogens, including viruses. The commonly used methods and techniques of disinfection for viral inactivation in water comprise physical disinfection such as membrane filtration, ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, and conventional chemical processes such as chlorine, monochloramine, chlorine dioxide, and ozone among others. However, the production of disinfection by-products (DBPs) that accompanies chemical methods of disinfection is an issue of great concern due to the increase in the risks of harm to humans, for example, the development of cancer of the bladder and adverse reproductive outcomes. Therefore, this review examines the conventional disinfection approaches alongside emerging disinfection technologies, such as photocatalytic disinfection, cavitation, and electrochemical disinfection. Moreover, the merits, limitations, and log reduction values (LRVs) of the different disinfection methods discussed were compared concerning virus removal efficiency. Future research needs to merge single disinfection techniques into one to achieve improved viral disinfection, and the development of medicinal plant-based materials as disinfectants due to their antimicrobial and safety benefits to avoid toxicity is also highlighted.

Identification of surrogates for rapid monitoring of microbial inactivation by ozone for water reuse: A pilot-scale study

The complex contaminants in reclaimed water sources and delayed feedback of microbial detection have brought tremendous challenges to disinfection process control. The identification of sensitive and online surrogates for indicating microbial inactivation efficacy is vital to evaluate and optimize the disinfection technologies and processes. This study analyzes the inactivation of microbial indicators during ozone disinfection at a pilot-scale study over 5 months. It is identified that total fluorescence (TF) intensity, ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm (UV₂₅₄) and intracellular adenosine triphosphate (cATP) concentration can act as surrogates in predicting microbial inactivation by ozone. Particularly, the empirical linear correlations for log removal values (LRV) of TF, UV₂₅₄ and cATP concentration are developed for the inactivation of four widely applied microbial indicators, namely the total coliforms, fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli (E. coli) and heterotrophic plate count (HPC) (R² = 0.86-0.96). Validation analyses are further conducted to verify the robustness and effectiveness of empirical models. Notably, TF is considered as the most efficient surrogate due to its high sensitivity, accuracy and reliability, whereas cATP concentration is an efficient supplement to directly reflect total microbial counts. The study is important to provide a rapid and reliable approach for ozone disinfection efficiency evaluation and prediction.

An insight to sequential ozone‑chlorine process for synergistic disinfection on reclaimed water: Experimental and modelling studies

Water reclamation plants (WRPs) are facing the challenges of ensuring microbial safety and require efficient disinfection systems. Sequential ozone‑chlorine disinfection is supposed to be a favorable alternative for reclaimed water disinfection. This study compared the inactivation efficiency of E.coli by single ozone, single chlorine, and sequential ozone‑chlorine disinfection approaches. Notably, a single ozone or chlorine process could only achieve a log removal rate of up to 5 log, whereas the sequential ozone‑chlorine disinfection could completely inactivate microorganisms (7.3 log). For sequential ozone‑chlorine disinfection, the efficiency of chlorination was improved by 2.4%-18.5%. The synergistic effect mainly attributed to the elimination of chlorine consuming substances by ozone. Through the chlorine decay model (CRS) fitting and calculating the integral CT value, the enhancement ability of ozone to chlorine disinfection was quantified. By introducing an enhancement coefficient (β), a succinct and accurate model was established to estimate the inactivation rate of sequential ozone‑chlorine disinfection (mean absolute percentage error: 0.035). The results and methodology of this study are informative to optimize the disinfection units of WRPs.

Efficient synergistic disinfection by ozone, ultraviolet irradiation and chlorine in secondary effluents

Disinfection of secondary effluents is vital to provide a sustainable aquatic environment, minimize microbial risks and guarantee public and environmental safety. This study investigated the effectiveness of six treatment trains including single and combined disinfection processes (i.e., ozone alone, ultraviolet (UV) irradiation alone, chlorine alone, sequential ozone-UV, sequential ozone-chlorine and sequential ozone-UV-chlorine) on bacterial inactivation, as well as bulk water quality parameters such as color, turbidity, absorbance at 254 nm (UV₂₅₄), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and fluorescence based on samples collected from an actual water reclamation plant (WRP). For the single disinfection processes, when the ozone, UV and chlorine doses reached 5 mg/L, 15 mJ/cm² and 4 mg/L, respectively, the log removal of Escherichia coli (E. coli) reached 5 log. A trailing phenomenon was observed with further increases in the disinfectant dosage. Under the combined treatment scenarios, ozone pretreatment resulted in substantial removal of color, turbidity, UV₂₅₄, fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (FEEM) and chlorine consuming organics, thus enhancing the efficiency of subsequent UV irradiation or chlorine treatments. In the sequential ozone-UV-chlorine experiments, E. coli inactivation reached 7 log with ozone, UV and available chlorine of 3 mg/L, 5 or 10 mJ/cm² and 2.5 mg/L, respectively. On the basis of the results from the actual WRP, the estimated operating cost per unit for the disinfection systems is 0.065 CNY/t, which is economical for long-term operation.

Disinfection characteristics of Pseudomonas peli, a chlorine-resistant bacterium isolated from a water supply network

Lack of microbial contamination is crucial for drinking water quality and safety. Chlorine-resistant bacteria in drinking water distribution systems pose a threat to drinking water quality. A bacterium was isolated from an urban water supply network in northern China and identified as Pseudomonas peli by 16S rDNA gene analysis. This P. peli strain had high chlorine tolerance. The CT value (the product of disinfectant concentration and contact time) to achieve 3 lg unit (i.e. 99.9%)-inactivation of this P. peli isolate was 51.26-90.36 mg min/L, inversely proportional to the free chlorine concentration. Chlorine dioxide could inactivate the bacterium faster and more efficiently than free chlorine, as shown by flow cytometry. Thiazole orange plus propidium iodide staining indicated that free chlorine and chlorine dioxide inactivated P. peli primarily by disrupting the integrity and permeability of the cell membrane. The P. peli was also sensitive to ultraviolet (UV) radiation; a UV dose of 40 mJ/cm² achieved 4 lg unit (99.99%)-inactivation. The Hom model was more suitable for analyzing the disinfection kinetics of P. peli than the Chick and Chick-Watson models.

Membrane fouling potential of the denitrification filter effluent and the control mechanism by ozonation in the process of wastewater reclamation

A process of denitrification filter (DNF) coupled with ultrafiltration (UF) and ozonation (DNF-UF-O₃) has been widely applied to advanced nitrogen removal for wastewater reclamation. Despite of the effective removal of nitrogen by DNF, the influence of DNF stage on the operation of UF was still unclear. In this study, a laboratory filtration system was used to investigate the membrane fouling potential of DNF effluent and the fouling control of ozonation. The membrane fouling potential was proved to be increased significantly after DNF stage and alleviated with ozonation treatment. With the help of UV-vis, fluorescence spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and molecular weight (MW) analysis, the change of DOM component characteristics was proved to be in accordance with the change of fouling potential. The water samples were further fractionated into six hydrophobic/hydrophilic acidic/basic/neutral fractions, among which hydrophobic acids (HOA) and hydrophobic neutrals (HON) dominated the membrane fouling potential of DNF effluent. Detailed study of each fraction revealed that higher MW components in HOA and HON played a crucial role in the fouling of UF membrane. The dominant component of membrane fouling could be degraded and removed by ozonation, and therefore significant fouling alleviation was achieved. These results indicated that in the process of wastewater reclamation, besides conventional water quality indexes, more detailed water features should also be taken into consideration to optimize the whole process. Moreover, the control effects by ozonation could be monitored simply according to the change of specific UV absorbance (SUVA) and fluorescence intensity as surrogates in engineering applications. According to these results, a modified DNF-O₃-UF process with O₃ dosage of 3 mg/L was proposed simply by reversing the sequence of UF and O₃ with no more infrastructure. This modified DNF-O₃-UF process was expected to enlarge the produce capacity of reclaimed water with much lower electricity costs and chemical consumption.

Ozone and Photocatalytic Processes for Pathogens Removal from Water: A Review

The search for alternative water sources is pushing to the reuse of treated water coming from municipal wastewater treatment plants. However, this requires that tightened standards be fulfilled. Among them is the microbiological safety of reused water. Although chlorination is the mostly applied disinfection system, it presents several disadvantages, such as the high doses required and the possibility of formation of dangerous by-products. Moreover, the threat of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) spread throughout poorly treated water is requiring the implementation of more efficient disinfection systems. Ozone and photo assisted disinfection technologies are being given special attention to reach treated water with higher quality. Still, much must be done to optimize the processes so that cost-effective systems may be obtained. This review paper gives a critical overview on the application of ozone and photo-based disinfection systems, bearing in mind their advantages and disadvantages when applied to water and municipal wastewater. Also, the possibility of integrated disinfection systems is considered.

Ozone generation mechanism over phosphorus and the impact of H2O with density functional modeling

The generation of P–O was a continuous process but was not conducive to generate O₃ and a free O atom.