UV LED Wastewater Disinfection: The Future is Upon Us Full-scale installation and auditing of 280nm UV LED disinfection reactor

The worlds first full-scale, 280 nm UV LED reactor for wastewater disinfection was tested at flows of 545 and 817 m3 day-1. The system achieved a >3 average log reduction of total coliform at 545 m3 day-1 and the 817 m3 day-1 flow rate achieved over a >2.5 average log reduction for all operational conditions. The delivered fluence of the full-scale system ranged from 28-148 mJ cm-2 and aligns with a UV auditing study that was conducted prior to the installation of the wastewater reactor. These results benchmark the performance that can be achieved by UV LED disinfection and further connect bench-scale disinfection results with full-scale performance. The approach established in this manuscript provides a novel tool for utilities when considering emerging UV disinfection technologies. In summary, this study establishes that UV LEDs are an effective wastewater disinfectant at-scale and are comparable to conventional low-pressure UV systems. This is the first instance where the efficacy of UV LEDs for municipal wastewater disinfection has been demonstrated using a large-scale installation at a functioning wastewater facility. Graphical Abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=195 HEIGHT=200 SRC="FIGDIR/small/24308830v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (46K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@156a9eeorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@ae836aorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@135c44corg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@ea73d8_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG