A NEW ALTERNATIVE FOR WATER DISINFECTION

FLORES, M.; NIERES, P.; CASSANO, A.E.; LABAS, M.D.

Rio de Janeiro

Encuentro; VI Encontro sobre Aplicações Ambientais de Processos Oxidativos Avançados-6° EPOA; 2011

COPPE/UFRJ

According to World Health Organization (WHO) still a 1100 million people have not access to improved water supply and sanitation, especially concentrated in underdevelopments countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The choice of an adequate disinfection method is becoming more important considering appropriate disposal and possible reuse of treated effluents. The first aspect is related not only to the removal of potentially pathogenic agents, but also to the control of potentially dangerous disinfection byproducts (DBPs). The Peracetic Acid (PAA) find increasing use in the recent years cause it ecologically positive properties and it relative low cost (Mezzanote et al.). PAA is characterized by its easy technical preparation and its environmental benefits (the reaction products are oxygen, water, and acetic acid). The desirable attributes of PAA are the ease of implementing treatment, broad spectrum of activity even in the presence of heterogeneous organic matter, absence of persistent toxic or mutagenic residual byproducts, no quenching requirement, small dependence of pH, short contact time and effectiveness for primary and secondary effluents. PAA is a strong oxidant and disinfectant. Its oxidation potential is larger than that of chlorine or chlorine dioxide. PAA is rapidly active at low concentrations against a wide spectrum of microorganisms (Kitis, 2003). The aim objective of this study was evaluate the disinfection efficiency of the PAA commercial solution (15%) with the usual indicator of fecal contamination, Escherichia coli, the disinfection efficiency of PAA in a pilot-scale study at different concentrations (1,1.5, 2, 3 4, 5, 6 mg / liter) and inactivation times.