The WateReuse Research Foundation has released two new research reports on ultraviolet (UV) disinfection and virus-removal monitoring, both important subjects in wastewater reuse.
For Enhanced Disinfection of Adenoviruses with UV Irradiation (WRRF-06-011), principal investigators were Karl Linden, Duke University and University of Colorado Boulder, and Jeanette Thurston, USDA-ARS and USDA National Institute of Food Safety.
They report that their research confirms that polychromatic medium-pressure (MP) UV lamps are much more effective than low-pressure (LP) UV lamps, and that the doses required for virus inactivation were much lower than those in the United States Environmental Protection Agency regulations.
They also strongly suspect that UV inactivation of viruses in cell cultures is no different than for in vivo animal infections.
The study New Techniques for Real-Time Monitoring of Membrane Integrity for Virus Removal: Pulsed-Marker Membrane Integrity Monitoring System (WRRF-09-06b) was undertaken by Val S Frenkel, Arcadis US (now with Erler & Kalinowski, Inc) and Yoram Cohen, University of California, Los Angeles.
They looked at potential health hazards caused by imperfections and/or breaches as small as 20‑30 nm in diameter in wastewater treatment/reuse membranes, which could allow enteric viruses to pass through the membrane and contaminate the product water stream.
This study focused on evaluating a pulsed-marker membrane integrity monitoring (PM-MIMo) approach for reverse-osmosis (RO) processes on the basis of the use of a fluorescent marker. The basic concept of the PM-MIMo approach for detecting membrane breaches was successfully demonstrated by comparing intact and damaged membranes using a diagnostic plate-and-frame RO system and spiral-wound RO pilot system.