Ozone disinfection with the HiPOX reactor: streamlining an old technology for wastewater reuse

Although ozone disinfection is a well established technology for drinking water treatment, ozone disinfection mechanisms in wastewater are not well understood such that, historically, ozone wastewater disinfection has not been a feasible technology to implement. The HiPOx system is an ozone-based pressurized in-vessel system that can be used either as an advanced oxidation reactor or as a highly efficient ozone dissolution system. The pilot-scale HiPOx system was temporarily installed at the Dublin San Ramon Services District (DSRSD) Wastewater Treatment Plant in Dublin, California. Detailed bioassay testing was conducted on the pilot reactor between October and December 2007. Tests on benchtop reactors were performed in June and August 2007. Pilot tests on the HiPOx reactor located at DSRSD showed that 6.5 log removal of MS2 coliphage was observed at conservative transferred ozone doses of 5 mg/L (contact time of 93 seconds) in microfiltered water, and 7 mg/L (contact time of 50 seconds) in media filtered water. In media filtered water, minimum CT values of 1.0 mg-min/L resulted in non detect total coliform.