Assessment of the UV/Chlorine Process in the Disinfection ofPseudomonas aeruginosa: Efficiency and Mechanism

Liping Wang, Chengsong Ye, Lizheng Guo, Chunyan Chen, Xiujuan Kong, Yaoqing Chen, Longfei Shu, Peng Wang, Xin Yu, Jingyun Fang

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

146 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

UV irradiation and chlorination have been widely used for water disinfection. However, there are some limitations, such as the risk of generating viable but nonculturable bacteria and bacteria reactivation when using UV irradiation or chlorination alone. This study comprehensively evaluated the feasibility of the UV/chlorine process in drinking water disinfection, andPseudomonas aeruginosawas selected as the target microorganism. The number of culturable cells was effectively reduced by more than 5 orders of magnitude (5-log10) after UV, chlorine, and UV/chlorine treatments. However, intact and VBNC cells were detected at 103to 104cells/mL after UV and chlorine treatments, whereas they were undetectable after UV/chlorine treatment due to the primary contribution of reactive chlorine species (Cl, Cl2•-, and ClO). After UV/chlorine treatment, the metabolic activity determined using single cell Raman spectroscopy was much lower than that after UV. The level of toxicoprgene inP. aeruginosadecreased by more than 99% after UV/chlorine treatment. Importantly, bacterial dark reactivation was completely suppressed by UV/chlorine treatment but not UV or chlorination. This study suggests that the UV/chlorine treatment can completely damage bacteria and is promising for pathogen inactivation to overcome the limitations of UV and chlorine treatments alone.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)9221-9230
Number of pages10
JournalEnvironmental Science and Technology
Volume55
Issue number13
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 Jul 2021

Keywords

  • chlorine radicals
  • disinfection
  • pathogens
  • reactivation
  • the UV/chlorine process
  • viable but nonculturable cells

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • Environmental Chemistry

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