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Application of UV-LEDs and UV reflective material for water disinfection
Citation:
Oh, Y., M. Donhowe, J. Squeri, M. McNeely, L. Boczek, AND H. Ryu. Application of UV-LEDs and UV reflective material for water disinfection. Presented at IUVA Americas Conference, Cincinnati, OH, September 26 - 28, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
Ultraviolet-light emitting diodes (UV-LEDs) are smaller, lighter, and mercury-free while providing effective water disinfection performance, which enables greater flexibility in UV reactor design for water disinfection applications. More recently, we have reported the synergistic effect of UV reflective materials to enhance an efficient UV water treatment system. These studies have led to the creation of a novel UV reactor consisting of a side-mounted UV-LED tubular device made of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) which is a UV reflective material, along with a UV-LED module, which emits at 272 nm, located at the center of the tube. the synergistic effects using a UV reflective material combined with UV-LEDs encourages further studies on the development of a low power UV-LED point-of-use device. The synergistic effects using a UV reflective material combined with UV-LEDs encourages further studies on the development of a low power UV-LED point-of-use device.
Description:
In this study, we investigate the effect of UV reflective materials on microbial inactivation efficiency in drinking water using this side-mounted UV-LED tubular device. Specifically, the effects of length of reflective material, reflectivity of the material, and the flow rate of a feed solution are correlated with the observed E. coli inactivation efficiency. The results reveal there is a limited length of this UV reflective material contributing to the overall inactivation, because the repetitive UV reflection gradually attenuates the intensity. At a flow rate of 2 L/min tested, PTFE results in approximately 4 log credits higher of E. coli inactivation than the identical sample without any reflective material. It is also found that increasing the feed solution flow rate decreases the inactivation performance significantly, suggesting the need for determination of an optimal flow rate to maximize the inactivation efficacy of the device.