Department of Civil Engineering-I.I.T.

Delhi
CEL 795: Water and Wastewater Treatment Processes
1st Semester 2012-13
HW Disinfection Solution

Q1. The Chick’s Law: For disinfection, assume N (0) is initial number of pathogens and N (t) is
remaining number of pathogens at time and given by
N (t) =N (0)* exp (-K*t) where K is disinfection rate (unit=1/unit of time) and depends on
disinfectant-pathogen interaction and solution characteristics.
Here R-log removal: R=-log10 [N(t)/N(0)]
If disinfectant concentration (Cdisinfectant) and contact time (tc) are related to each other by
following equation (the Watson’s Law):
(Cdisinfectant)n * (tc) = constant (standard unit: C in mg/L and tc in minute)
(i) Calculate R-log removal value for 99.9% removal? What is the remaining pathogen
concentration at this removal after 1 minutes of contact time? (Assume K=0.046/min)
(ii) Now assume C (mg/L)*t (minute) = 100 minute *mg/L corresponds to 2-log removal,
calculate value of K (assume chlorine concentration (C) used here = 1mg/L)?
(iii) At a chlorine dose = 1mg/L and contact times varying between 1 minute to 100 minutes
(in 5 minutes increment), plot fraction of the pathogen killed with contact time and
determine minimum contact time required for at least 99.99% removal? (use K value
from part (ii))
Solution:
Part (i)
R-log removal = -log10 [1-Nt/N0]
Given removal = 99.9%, so Nt/N0= (1-99.9/100) =0.001
R-log removal = -log10 [0.001] =3 (answer)
For calculating remaining fraction of pathogens after 1 minute of disinfection with K=0.046/min, use
the Chick’s Law:
Nt/N0 = exp (-k ×t) = exp (-0.046/min×1 min) =0.9550 (i.e., 95.50%) (Answer)

Part (ii)
C (mg/L)*t (minute) = 100 minute *mg/L
As C=1 mg/L =>t=100 minute
Removal= 2-log removal, Nt/N0=?
2= -log10 [1-Nt/N0] => Nt/N0= 10-2
N(t)=N(0)* exp(-K*t)
=>10-2= exp(-K*100 minutes)
-4.505= (-100K) => K=0.04505/minute

Part (iii): K=0.04505/minute

N(t)/N(0) = exp(-K*t)
If removal =99.99%, N(t)/N(0) =?; K is given as from part (ii), so contact time=?

Q2. An experiment shows that a concentration of 0.1g/m3 of free available chlorine yield a 99%
kill of bacteria in 8 minutes. What contact time is required to achieve a 99.9% kill at a free
available chlorine concentration of 0.05 g/m3? Assume that Chick’s Law and Watson’s Law
hold with n=1. [2+2=4 points]

Solution:
Part (i)
Given: For 99% kill: C= 0.1 g/m3 and time (t) =8 minutes
Chick’s Law: Nt=N0×exp (-k ×t)
Calculation of disinfection rate constant:
Nt/N0= (1-99/100) =0.01 in 8 minutes
From Chick’s Law: 0.01 = exp (-k ×8)
=> k = - (1/8) ln (0.01) = 0.5756/min (answer)

Part (ii)
Assuming that k=0.5756/min does not depend on extent of removal, it can be used for achieving
99.9% removal as well. Using calculated k value, calculate time for getting 99.9% kill:
Nt/N0= (1-99.9/100)=0.001
Using Chick’s Law: 0.001 = exp (-0.5756×t) =>t = - (1/0.5756) ln (0.001) =12 min

Watson’s Law: Cn×t=constant = > C×t=constant (as n=1)

For 99.9% kill: C= 0.1 g/m3 and time (t) =12 minutes. So, C×t value
=(0.1 *1000mg/1000L)*(12 minutes) = 1.2 (mg/L)(min.)

For 99.9% removal using C=0.05 mg/L: (Ct value) =1.2 (mg/L) (min.)
so, for C=0.05 mg/L => (0.05 mg/L × t min.) = 1.2
=> t = 1.2/ (0.05) = 24 minutes (answer)

Q2. Calculate the quantity of chlorine consumed/day for 3-log removal of rotaviruses from
secondary effluent (pH7), where free chlorine residual is 2 mg/L, the first-order decay rate of
chlorine is 0.2/h and flow rate is 1000m3/day. Given that Ct value is 243 for pH7.0. [15
points]
Solution
3-log removal => Nt/N0=3
Ct=243
As chlorine is decaying at rate of 0.2/h exponentially, chlorine required:
Ct=C0 *exp(-K*t)
for Ct=2 mg/L, t=243/2=121.5 minutes =2.025 h

2 mg/L=C0 *exp(-0.2*2.025) = C0*(0.667)

C0=2/0.667=2.998 mg/L
Total quantity of chlorine consumed = 106 L/day * 2.998 mg/L =2.998 Kg/day

Q3. Name three disinfection kinetics models generally used to model disinfection process. Can
CT concept be applied to all three kinetic models? Why or why not? [10 points]
Solution: See lecture notes

Q4. Refer Figure 1 for wastewater consists of ammonia, organic matter and microorganisms)
Chlorine dosage (mg/L) 0.1 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
Chlorine residual (mg/L) 0.0 0.4 0.8 0.4 0.4 0.9 1.4
(i) Discuss the significance of different regions. [8 points]
(ii) Calculate chlorine dose to achieve 0.75 mg/L free available chlorine? [4 points]
Solution:
See lecture notes
After last 2 mg/L chlorine dosage, breakpoint happens, so at this time:
Combined chlorine = 2 mg/L
Additional chlorine dose added = 2.5-2 =0.5 mg/L
Total chlorine at 2.5 mg/L chlorine residual=0.9 mg/L
Free residual chlorine = 0.9-0.4=0.5 mg/L

For 0.75 mg/L free available chlorine, total chlorine =0.4+0.75=1.15 mg/L
For 0.75 mg/L free available chlorine, chlorine dose required = 2+0.75 =2.75 mg/L
Q5. Look at the following relationship between concentration of free residual chlorine and
contact time required for 99% kill (Watson’s Law: C0.86tp= λ (constant) for different pathogens).
Pathogen type Adenovirus 3 E.coli Coxsackievirus A2
λ (constant) 0.098 0.24 6.3
For given chlorine dose, how long would you like to disinfect to achieve maximum removal of all
pathogens? Explain the result. [6+4=10 points]
Solution:
C0.86tp= λ
For a given chlorine dose, tp directly depends on λ. So for high value of λ, more time is required. So,
coxsackievirus A2 required highest time and it this contact time is provided all other pathogens will
also get killed.
So use contact time for coxsackievirus A2 for maximum extent of disinfection.