UV Disinfection Options for Wastewater Treatment Plants

This online engineering PDH course will provide a detailed evaluation of ultra violet (UV) technology as an alternative to conventional chemical disinfection methods used at wastewater treatment plants (WWTP).

Chlorination has been the preferred disinfection method used for treating WWTP effluent, but concerns about chemical releases, public safety, and the potential for chlorinated effluent to be toxic to aquatic life have caused municipal managers to consider other options.  Although chlorine, sometimes followed by dechlorination, continues to be used at many municipal WWTPs, use of other means, such as UV disinfection, is increasing. UV is a technology capable of providing effective WWTP effluent disinfection while reducing safety and environmental toxicity issues.

There are many factors that must be carefully considered to verify that UV facilities are safe, reliable and economical. These issues include the cost of power and lamp replacement, lamp fouling, ability of the water to allow transmission of UV radiation, tailing, photoreactivation and regrowth of disinfected microorganisms, and dose selection.

This 8 PDH online  course is intended for wastewater treatment engineers and environmental professionals seeking to gain an understanding of UV disinfection technologies. This course is also an excellent overview for those environmental professionals working in the field of water and wastewater treatment. A complete description of UV science is described along with its application to the disinfection of wastewater.  The three major UV technology options are fully presented and compared.  Results of a pilot demonstration are looked at to give the reader a real world example for evaluating UV technologies as an option for disinfecting wastewater at an existing plant.