UV Sterilization
Sterilization is an essential operation in a great number of applications, but for sure its most significant field of application is the treatment of water for human use and the treatment of the domestic wastewater that have undergone a biological purification process.
Sterilization can be carried out through chemical methods, such as the treatment with chlorine compounds and ozone, or through physical methods, such as the ultraviolet rays radiation and the thermal sterilization.
Chemical treatments imply the use of adequate reagents, which also imply a series of problems regarding the supply, stock and use of the same; the physical treatments are more technologically sophisticated but also lead to better results than the other methods.
The best technological solution is the sterilization through the ultraviolet radiation; this kind of treatment turns out to be particularly suitable for the treatment of medium liquid flows, obtaining, without particular difficulties, sterilizations levels that are almost total.
UV sterilization is carried out putting the water through radiations of adequate wave length which are able to destroy the key molecules for the metabolic processes of the microorganism.
For this application, low pressure mercury lamps are used, which quartz coating for the thermal shock protection, located in appropriate reactors that allow high irradiation efficiency.
The intensity of the incident radiation, and thus the efficiency of the treatment, is influenced by the presence in water of colored substances or residual suspended solids; in order to avoid the radiation reduction the photo reactors should work with thin water layers, thus the necessity to operate with systems having an elevated number of lamps arranged in parallel.
The wastewater is sent into a tubular photo reactor; inside in the liquid mass is attacked by the radiation of several UV lamps, which can treat high flows keeping the sterilization level in the desired range.
BENEFITS:
- immediate action, no need storage tanks
- disinfection without addition of chemical products
- no alteration of the chemical composition of the water and organoleptic characteristics
- no harmful compound
- minimum maintenance and running costs