Disinfection of Water by UV Irradiation-Modeling and Improvement

This paper deals with the complex problem of modeling of water UVc disinfection, and it aimed to improve the performances of this multipart process. The UV disinfection should inactivate pathogenic microorganisms and improve the hygienic quality of water. A comprehensive treatment in considering the mathematical aspect to model the UVc disinfection of water was achieved. A complete mathematical description of the inactivation kinetics is developed and showed two successive stages, a fast and a low one. Similarly, a mathematical model describing fluid flow and concentration of the microorganisms inside a UV reactor is developed. Modeling the kinetic and the UV lamp ray emission using some empirical approaches might increase the efficiency of UV disinfection and improved its performance. This study showed an improvement of the microbial inactivation rate of about of 49% for the selected pathogenic resistant bacteria of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 15442, and in considering perfectly mixed water flowing into the UV reactor.