Lecture 11: Disinfection

CIEG 328
Unit Operations in Environmental Engineering
Last lecture: We talked about sedimentation & filtration.

Today: We will discuss disinfection.

Reminders: Article about disinfection posted online.

• Homework 4 due Thursday. Last homework before
midterm
• Disinfection practice problems posted by Thursday.
• Deliverable 1 due 3/5/2019
• Midterm 1- 3/7/2019
Which of the following is mechanism of
disinfection?

A) Eliminates bacterial substrates from drinking water.

B) Altering the osmotic pressure around the cell

C) Damaging the cell wall

Several different types of disinfectants are commonly
used in both drinking water and wastewater
• Chlorine (drinking water/wastewater)
• Chloramine (drinking water)
• Chlorine dioxide (drinking water/wastewater)
• Peracetic acid (Wastewater)
• Ozone (drinking water)
• Ultraviolet radiation (drinking water/wastewater)
Chlorine contact basins operate in a plug flow
configuration

td = 5-20 minutes
Plug flow reactor
• Configuration:
• visualize a moving volume of water with substance through a
stationary tube.
• Fluid moves as a plug through the reactor. Mixing in radial
direction not in the axial direction
• Concentration will vary over space and time.
• Can still assume a steady state effluent concentration.

6
 Contactors
• Ideal plug flow
• Length:width
ratio of ≥ 40:1
• Height: width
ratio of 1:3
• Use t10 to
account for
non-ideal flow
pattern

7
Chlorine
• Three different methods of application
• Cl2 (gas)
• NaOCl (liquid)
• Ca(OCl)2 (solid)

8
Chlorination Chemicals
• Chlorine gas
• Greenish yellow color gas
• Gas is about 2.5 times heavier than air
• Sodium hypochlorite (bleach)
• Liquid with about 12.5 to 17 percent available chlorine
• Decomposes with time- ex. 10% in 10 days
• Can be generated on site from NaCl or seawter
• 1.5 to 2X cost of chlorine gas
• Calcium hypochlorite
• Dry or wet form
• Highly soluble
• More expensive then sodium hypochlorite
Chlorine Reactions in Water
• Cl2 (g) = Cl2 (aq)
• Cl2 (aq) + H2O = HOCl + H+ + Cl-
• pH dependent
• essentially complete within a few milliseconds
• HOCl = H+ + OCl-
• HOCl is about 80 - 100 times more effective than is OCl- for E. Coli
• [HOCl] + [OCl-] + [Cl2(aq)] = free available chlorine

10
 Chlorine Reactions in Water

0.0012

[HOCl] [OCl-]
HOCl = H+ + OCl-
0.001

0.0008

Conc. (M)
pKa = 7.54 at 25oC 0.0006

0.0004

pKa = 7.6 at 20oC 0.0002

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
pH

11
Example 13-1
If 15 mg/L of HOCl is added to a potable water for disinfection and the final measured pH is 7.0,
what percent of the HOCl is not dissociated? Assume the temperature is 25°C

12
Chlorine demand
• When fast demand reactions occur, there is an “immediate demand.”

13
Impact of water/wastewater constituents
Constituent Effect

BOD, COD Chlorine demand

Forms chlorinated organic
Natural organic matter compound that is measured as active
chlorine
Ammonia Forms chloramines
Chlorine demand, also forms
Nitrite
NDMA
Reduced Fe, Mn Chlorine demand

Reduced sulfur compounds Chlorine demand

Industrial wastewater input Demand varies

Disinfection by-products
• From chlorine:
• Trihalomethanes (THMs)
• Haloacetic acids (HAAs)
• Haloketones
• Chloral hydrate
• Chloropicrin
• Haloacetonitriles
• From chlorine dioxide:
• Chlorite and chlorate
• From chloramines
• Nitrosamines

15
Several different types of disinfectants are commonly
used in both drinking water and wastewater
• Chlorine (drinking water/wastewater)
• Chloramine (drinking water)
• Chlorine dioxide (drinking water/wastewater)
• Peracetic acid (Wastewater)
• Ozone (drinking water)
• Ultraviolet radiation (drinking water/wastewater)
Chloramine is quickly becoming a common
disinfectant across the country

Advantages: Less hazardous, good disinfectant, primary +

secondary. Less disinfection by products
Disadvantages: Not as strong as chlorine
Example

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Acid generation
2NH4+ 3Cl2 -> N2 + 6HCL + 2H+

• Often this effect is buffered when water has some alkalinity

• 24.5mg/L of alkalinity (as CaCO3) required for each 1 mg/L of
ammonia
Disinfectant Ability
• Current regulations use the CT concept, which require a specific log
reduction in the number of Giardia and viruses
• C = concentration of disinfectant in contactor
• T = contact time (actually T10)
• Determined using a tracer study, assuming plug flow
• Time required for 10% of tracer to pass through the contactor
• Often < 65% of the hydraulic detention time

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Figure 11-10
Comparison of the germicidal efficiency of hypochlorous acid, hypochlorite ion, and
monochloramine for 99 percent destruction of E. coli at 2 to 6°C with CRt values added
for the purpose of comparison. (From Butterfield et al., 1943.)
Reminder

Extra credit for asking a

question