Particle effects on ultraviolet disinfection of coliform bacteria in recycled water

Pilot- and bench-scale coliform inactivation tests with UV irradiation were used to show how suspended solids remaining in filtered secondary effluent affect the efficiency of the UV disinfection process. Observed kinetic inactivation rates decreased with increasing suspended particle sizes of 7 microm or larger present in tertiary effluent. First-order inactivation rates estimated from collimated beam dose-response curves for discrete ranges of UV doses were substantially different, which should caution researchers not to compare inactivation data obtained with largely dissimilar UV doses or suspended particle distributions. A dose of approximately 800 J/m2 was identified as the minimum dose that will consistently meet the California wastewater reclamation coliform criterion when applied to in-line filtration effluent.