Disinfection of Primary Municipal Wastewater Effluents Using Continuous UV and Ozone Treatment

UV radiation and ozonation were investigated as disinfection alternatives for the wastewater treatment plant. The inactivation of total and fecal coliforms using ozone and ultraviolet radiation as separate treatments was evaluated. Different ozone concentrations (3 to 40 mg O3/L) were applied and UV fluencies ranging from 8.5 to 12 mJ/cm at different pH values (from 5 to 9) were tested. Best results were obtained for ozone doses near 20 mg/min with removals of 72% and 78% of fecal and total coliforms, respectively. The ozone also was capable of oxidizing organic matter in the effluent measured as COD (the highest removal obtained was 36% for 20 mg O3/min). Maximum bacterial resistance was observed at pH 7 in both cases. The UV light offered a high bacterial inactivation (over 80%) and the lowest bacterial inactivation was observed at pH 7. Finally, we obtained the electric energy per order (EEO, kWh/m/order), defined as the electric energy (kW-h) required to degrade a contaminant by one order of magnitude in a unit volume of contaminated water, being noteworthy that EEO values for the UV process resulted were lower than those determined for the process with ozone in all the water flow tested.