UV disinfection has been a validated technology for the disinfection of pathogens on surfaces, as well as in air and water, for several decades. 28, 29 A particular spectrum of UV radiation between 200 and 280 nm, the so-called UVC spectrum, has been employed extensively as the germicidal range of UV radiation.
What are the applications of ultraviolet water treatment?
The use of ultraviolet water treatment systems is common in residential, commercial and industrial applications, as well as in sewage treatment plants. UV is also an effective tool in pond algae control. UV can be used in: homes, cottages, hotels, motels, buildings, factories, rinse processes, bottling plants, food processing, cooling towers, breweries, hospitals, fisheries, …
What can UV light be used for?
Also known as phototherapy, this method of UV exposure is performed by a trained healthcare professional under the supervision of a dermatologist. …
How can UV light be used to kill microorganisms?
Although the effectiveness of UV irradiation on the infectivity of viruses and the nucleic acid of the virion is well documented, an increased environmental UV dose is likely to lead to an increased rate of viral mutation. 31 The virus can replicate even in the presence of induced mutations, but the effect on the viral genes could be different. 32 The lethal effect of the UV-induced nucleic …
What is UV disinfection?
Mar 26, 2002 · Both vacuum and UV-C are effective in breaking down a variety of chemicals. UV systems can remove ozone, chlorine, chloramines and organic compounds by directly breaking the chemical bonds (photolysis) or by creating OH– radicals directly from water or another oxidant such as peroxide. These applications typically require UV doses of
Are UV lights good for the environment?
With Phoseon lamps, there is no need for fume extraction units to remove the gases generated by mercury-vapor UV lamps. UV LED is not only good for the environment, but also has a very positive effect on the finances, sustainability, health, and safety of company operations.
What does UV do to the environment?
One of the main biological impacts of UV exposure on aquatic ecosystems is a reduction in the rate of photosynthesis. This can have a direct effect on primary productivity and, since different species may vary in their sensitivity to UV exposure, may eventually affect biodiversity.
How is UV used in the real world?
Ultraviolet rays can be used to kill microbes. Hospitals use UV lamps to sterilise surgical equipment and the air in operating theatres. Food and drug companies also use UV lamps to sterilise their products.
How would UV light treatment be used for treating wastewater?
Ultraviolet light is another disinfection method for destroying disease-causing organisms in wastewater effluent in onsite wastewater treatment systems. The UV light destroys the genetic material of microorganisms which prevents them from reproducing.
What are 3 uses of ultraviolet?
UV radiation is widely used in industrial processes and in medical and dental practices for a variety of purposes, such as killing bacteria, creating fluorescent effects, curing inks and resins, phototherapy and suntanning. Different UV wavelengths and intensities are used for different purposes.
How do ultraviolet rays help and affects living things and the environment cite the positive effects?
Positive (beneficial) effects of UV Triggers vitamin D – UV from the Sun is needed by our bodies to produce vitamin D. Vitamin D helps strengthen bones, muscles and the body's immune system. It may also lower the risk of getting some kinds of cancers such as colon cancer.Jul 29, 2008
What is the significance of UV rays in our lives?
It can make our daily life more comfortable, healthier and safer. Ultraviolet radiation is invisible. It consists of electromagnetic waves in the spectrum from 100 to 400 nm. Due to its powerful radiation it is used for reliable disinfection and surfaces cleaning but also to reduce pollutants in water and air.
What are some examples of ultraviolet?
Some other common ultraviolet light examples are:Black lights produce UV-A radiation along with some visible light. These are generally used as fluorescent lamps. ... UV light-emitting diodes (LEDs) generally emit UV-A or UV-B. ... Germicide lamps emit UV-C which disrupts DNA base pairing.Nov 22, 2021
What is the importance of ultraviolet?
Beneficial effects of UV radiation include the production of vitamin D, a vitamin essential to human health. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium and phosphorus from food and assists bone development. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends 5 to 15 minutes of sun exposure 2 to 3 times a week.
How is UV light useful for achieving disinfection of water?
In UV water disinfection technology, Ultraviolet light of wavelength 253.7 nanometers is used for disinfection of bacteria, viruses, molds, algae, and other microorganisms, which multiply and grow. UV disinfection technology destroys the DNA of microorganisms which leaves them dead and unable to grow further.Jan 12, 2020
Why do some treatment plants use Ultraviolet light instead of chlorine?
Unlike chemical approaches to water disinfection, UV provides rapid, effective inactivation of microorganisms through a physical process. The retention time required to achieve disinfection ranges from a few seconds compared to several (>30) minutes for chlorine disinfection.Sep 17, 2018
Which of the following is an advantage of using Ultraviolet light for disinfection of treated water?
Which of the following is an advantage of using ultraviolet light for disinfection of treated water? Ultraviolet light does not produce unwanted chemical byproducts. How are septic systems and wastewater treatment facilities similar? Both provide primary physical treatment.
What is UV radiation?
UV radiation, in the form of lasers, lamps, or a combination of these devices and topical medications that increase UV sensitivity, are sometimes used to treat patients with certain diseases who have not responded to other methods of therapy.
What are the best ways to protect your eyes from UV rays?
Some surfaces, such as snow, sand, grass, or water can reflect much of the UV radiation that reaches them. Sunglasses rated for 100% UV protection, a wide-brim hat, and broad-spectrum sunscreen can help protect your eyes and skin from reflected UV rays. More Information on Environmental Factors of UV Exposure.
What are the sources of UV radiation?
Sunlight is not the only source of UV radiation you may encounter. Other sources include: 1 Tanning booths 2 Mercury vapor lighting (often found in stadiums and school gyms) 3 Some halogen, fluorescent, and incandescent lights 4 Some types of lasers
What is UV index?
Q: What is the UV Index (UVI)? The Ultraviolet Index (UVI) is a rating scale, with numbers from 1 to 11, which indicate the amount of skin-damaging UV rays reaching the Earth’s surface during the day.
What is electromagnetic radiation?
All EM radiation (also called EM energy) is made up of minute packets of energy or 'particles,' called photons , which travel in a wave-like pattern and move at the speed of light. The EM spectrum is divided into categories defined by a range of numbers. These ranges describe the activity level, or how energetic the photons are, and the size of the wavelength in each category.
How long does UVC damage the eye?
Skin burns and eye injuries from UVC exposure usually resolve within a week with no known long-term damage. Since the penetration depth of UVC radiation is very low, the risk of skin cancer, cataracts or permanent vision loss is also thought to be very low.
Which rays have the longest wavelength?
UVC. UVA rays have the longest wavelengths, followed by UVB, and UVC rays which have the shortest wavelengths. While UVA and UVB rays are transmitted through the atmosphere, all UVC and some UVB rays are absorbed by the Earth’s ozone layer. So, most of the UV rays you come in contact with are UVA with a small amount of UVB.
What is UV monitor?
UV monitor. The#N#monitor detects the UV output of the lamp (s) at the interior wall of the treatment chamber. Monitoring is valuable in tracking lamp and system performance. A monitor is recommended in all disinfection applications in fresh, reverse osmosis/deionization (RO/DI) and other clean water.
Why is disinfection important?
Disinfection—the killing of potentially harmful microorganisms— in our water and air is critical to public health and industrial process reliability. Historically, industry has relied on hazardous chemicals such as chlorine and expensive processes such as pasteurization to rid its water supplies of pathogens. Currently, though, the use of ultraviolet (UV) light, the same as the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum of sunlight responsible for killing microorganisms, is providing a safe, reliable and highly effective method of getting the job done.
Who is Tom Schaefer?
Tom Schaefer is the national sales manager at Aquionics, Erlanger, Ky., a manufacturer of ultraviolet technology for disinfection, deozonation, dechlorination and total organic carbon removal. He can be reached at [email protected] or 800-925-0440 ext. 118.
What is Oculus in Florida?
OCULUS (Electronic Document Management) All Domestic Wastewater Program Content. The vast majority of domestic wastewater treatment facilities in Florida use chlorination for disinfection. However, there are some rather significant concerns associated with chlorination including the production of potentially hazardous byproducts ...
What is the Florida Administrative Code?
Rule 62-600.440 (1), Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.), states that: "The Department (of Environmental Protection) is aware of the possible harmful effects of chlorine used in conjunction with wastewater treatment and encourages the use of alternative disinfection methods.".
Is UV irradiation a disinfectant?
Many utilities are beginning to evaluate and implement alternative disinfection methods, with UV irradiation among the most popular. UV has long been recognized as an effective disinfectant. However, unlike chlorine, UV does not pose disinfection byproducts, toxicity or hazardous materials concerns.
What are the positive effects of UV light?
Positive (beneficial) effects of UV. Triggers vitamin D – UV from the Sun is needed by our bodies to produce vitamin D. Vitamin. 3. D helps strengthen bones, muscles and the body’s immune system. 4. . It may also lower the risk of getting some kinds of cancers such as colon.
What is the wavelength of UV light?
Chemicals can be a pure substance or a mixture. UV (ultra violet) light: Light that is invisible to the human eye and at a wavelength between 300–400 nanometres. UV light is what causes sun burn and can cause some types of cancer.
Why is science important?
The role of science is to provide the best understanding of the world at the moment. This understanding is important so that we can best decide how to use this information.
How long does sunburn last?
Scientists believe that sunburn can change the distribution and function of disease-fighting white blood cells in humans for up to 24 hours after exposure to the sun. Repeated over-exposure to UV radiation can cause even more damage to the body's immune system.
What are the signs of melanoma?
Hayley Reynolds and Associate Professor Rod Dunbar explain the changes in moles that can be signs of melanoma developing. Causes sunburn – UV burns the skin. Sunburn is a burn that occurs when skin cells are damaged. This damage to the skin is caused by the absorption of energy from UV rays.
Is UV radiation a carcinogen?
Causes skin cancer – UV is an environmental human carcinogen#N#16#N#. It’s the most prominent and universal cancer-causing agent in our environment. There is very strong evidence#N#17#N#that each of the three main types of skin cancer (basal cell#N#18#N#carcinoma#N#19#N#, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma#N#20#N#) is caused by sun exposure. Research shows that as many as 90% of skin cancers are due to UV radiation.
What is the colon?
colon: That part of the large intestine between the caecum and rectum. It consists of four sections: the ascending colon, the transverse colon, the descending colon and the sigmoid colon. cancer: The term for a group of more than 100 diseases in which abnormal cells divide and multiply uncontrollably.
Abstract
Due to global water scarcity, the use of reclaimed wastewater for crop irrigation is required; however, if the wastewater treatment is inadequate, it can be a source of environmental pollution. In order to improve wastewater reclamation, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been tested.
1. Introduction
In Almeria, Spain, which is one of the most productive agricultural areas ( Downward and Taylor, 2007 ), the water used in agricultural production represents 87% of the total freshwater extracted ( Ripoll et al., 2010 ).
2. Materials and methods
Conducting an LCA requires four basic stages: 1) goal and scope definition, 2) inventory analysis, 3) impact assessment and 4) interpretation ( International Organization for Standardization, 2006 ). The following sections describe the methodology for the first three of these stages.
4. Conclusions
The analysis of advanced oxidation processes to reclaim municipal wastewater for agricultural purposes instead of discharging Almeria secondary effluents to the sea shows that the reuse of treated wastewater could help to diminish local water scarcity, clearly observed in the water depletion category, where the reuse of reclaimed water is beneficial for the environment.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
S. Arzate: Writing - original draft, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology. S. Pfister: Writing - review & editing, Project administration, Resource, Software. C. Oberschelp: Writing - review & editing, Supervision, Validation, Visualization. J.A. Sánchez-Pérez: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Visualization.
Declaration of Competing Interest
We wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication and there has been no significant financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome.
Acknowledgements
Sandra Arzate would like to acknowledge the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for both her FPI scholarship ( BES-2014-069722) and mobility grant ( EEBB-I-17-12426) for being able to carry out this research at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (Switzerland). We thank Christie Walker for proof-reading the manuscript.
What is UV disinfection?
An Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection system transfers electromagnetic energy from a mercury arc lamp to an organism's genetic material (DNA and RNA). When UV radiation penetrates the cell wall of an organism, it destroys the cell's ability to reproduce. UV radiation, generated by an electrical discharge through mercury vapor, ...
How does UV radiation affect microorganisms?
UV radiation, generated by an electrical discharge through mercury vapor, penetrates the genetic material of microorganisms and retards their ability to reproduce. The effectiveness of a UV disinfection system depends on the characteristics of the wastewater, the intensity of UV radiation, the amount of time the microorganisms are exposed to ...
What are the components of a UV disinfection system?
The main components of a UV disinfection system are mercury arc lamps, a reactor, and ballasts. The source of UV radiation is either the low-pressure or medium-pressure mercury arc lamp with low or high intensities.
What is a medium pressure lamp?
Medium-pressure lamps are generally used for large facilities. They have approximately 15 to 20 times the germicidal UV intensity of low-pressure lamps. The medium-pressure lamp disinfects faster and has greater penetration capability because of its higher intensity.
What is a flap gate?
Flap gates or weirs are used to control the level of the wastewater. In the noncontact reactor, the UV lamps are suspended outside a transparent conduit, which carries the wastewater to be disinfected. This configuration is not as common as the contact reactor.
What are the factors that affect the intensity of UV radiation?
Intensity of the UV radiation: Factors affecting the intensity are the age of the lamps, lamp fouling, and the configuration and placement of lamps in the reactor.
Is UV disinfection effective?
UV disinfection with low-pressure lamps is not as effective for secondary effluent with TSS levels above 30 mg/L. • UV disinfection is not as cost-effective as chlorination, but costs are competitive when chlorination dechlorination is used and fire codes are met.
