Basic Principles of

UV Disinfection

Dr Michael Templeton
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London
IUVA Vice-President for Europe, Middle East and Africa region
m.templeton@imperial.ac.uk

Page 1 © Imperial College London

 Gamma Xrays UV Visible Infrared Microwave
Wavelength (nm) 1 10 340 760 106

vacuum UV UVC UVB UVA

Wavelength (nm) 200 280 315

germicidal sunburn tan

Page 2 © Imperial College London

 Microbial Inactivation by UV Light

• In order to inactivate microorganisms,

UV energy must be absorbed
somehow
• DNA & RNA happens to absorb light in
the UVC range emitted by UV lamps
• DNA & RNA are the master instructions
for the cell
• UV damages these nucleic acids and
prevents cell replication

Page 3 © Imperial College London

 UV Dose Terminology

Dose = Intensity x Time

Fluence = Fluence rate x Time

• J/m2, mJ/cm2, mW·sec/cm2 are commonly used units

• 10 J/m2 = 1 mW·sec/cm2 = 1 mJ/cm2

• So, 400 J/m2 is the same as 40 mJ/cm2

Page 4 © Imperial College London

 Log Inactivation
1-log inactivation
106
Conc. of Organisms

105 2-log inactivation

104

103

102

UV Dose (mJ/cm2)
Page 5 © Imperial College London
 C
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Page 6
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© Imperial College London

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Typical UV dose = 40 mJ/cm2

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UV dose (mJ/cm ) required for 4-log inactivation

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 Harder to inactivate

Protozoa Viruses
(Crypto, Giardia) (Adenovirus)

Viruses Bacteria UV
Cl2
(Adenovirus) (E. coli)

Bacteria Protozoa
(E. coli) (Crypto, Giardia)

Easier to inactivate
Page 7 © Imperial College London
 A Note about DNA Repair

• ‘Light’ and ‘dark’ repair mechanisms exist, but likely not a

drinking water concern
• If you apply enough UV, you destroy the ability to repair
• UV doses in the 40+ mJ/cm2 range are thought to be
easily high enough to prevent repair

Page 8 © Imperial College London

 Where Do You Get UV?

Humour Credit: Ron Hofmann

 UV Reactors
water reactor vessel
electrode

lamp

quartz sleeve air gap

mercury drop
sensor
Page 10
connected to ballast
© Imperial College London
 UV Lamps

Page 11 © Imperial College London

 100 Low pressure
Relative Output (%)
80

60 Medium
pressure
40

20

0
150 200 250 300 350 400
Wavelength (nm)

Note: The y-axis scale is different for LP and MP lamps on this graph. MP lamps emit
MUCH MORE energy than LP lamps.
Absorbance (M-1cm-1 x 10-3) 3

UV lamp

2
Uracil
(in RNA)
Thymine

Absorbed Energy
(in DNA)
1

0
200 220 240 260 280 300 320
Wavelength (nm)
 Lamps Age and Need Replacing!
100

80
Relative Output

60

40

20

0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
Time (hours)
Example data
Page 14 © Imperial College London
 Other Sources of UV…

Page 15 © Imperial College London

 UV Disinfection Benefits
• Cryptosporidium and other pathogens inactivated at
relatively low, economical UV doses
• No formation of regulated disinfection by-products at
typically applied UV doses for disinfection
• Small space requirements (no contact tank)
• Competitive costs versus alternatives (e.g. ozone,
membrane filtration)

Page 16 © Imperial College London

 UV Disinfection Limitations

• No taste and odour control (on its own…)

• Does not remove colour (on its own…)
• No iron, manganese oxidation
• No residual disinfecting capabilities

Design and operation of UV reactors must take into

account relevant water quality factors and include a
dose validation/monitoring strategy

Page 17 © Imperial College London

 Water Quality Considerations
Relevant water quality parameters:
• UV Transmittance (UVT)
• Fouling
• Turbidity

Note: pH, temperature have no major direct impact

on UV performance

Page 18 © Imperial College London

 UV Transmittance (UVT)

• Definition of %UVT: Percent of light emitted (254 nm)

that passes through 1 cm of water

95% UVT
100% 95%

Light source 1 cm Detector

Page 19 © Imperial College London
 UV Transmittance (UVT)

• Arguably the most important water quality parameter

• Clean source water: > 90% UVT
• Wastewaters: often 30% to 50%
• Can vary seasonally for surface waters; often more
stable for groundwaters

Page 20 © Imperial College London

 UV Transmittance (UVT)

• UVT affected by dissolved and particulate matter; best to

apply UV post-filter in a conventional treatment works
• Can always design a powerful enough UV system to
handle any UVT
• UV reactor design should consider lowest expected UVT
• Rough rule of thumb: For every 5% decrease in UVT,
50% reduction in UV dose (i.e. Need to build 2X the UV
system!)

Page 21 © Imperial College London

 UV Transmittance (UVT)
100
90
97% UVT per cm
80
% Transmission

70
60
50 87% UVT per cm
40
30
20
10 71% UVT per cm
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Distance from lamp (cm)
Page 22 © Imperial College London
 Fouling

From Jim Malley, IUVA website

 Fouling
• Caused by minerals that accumulate on quartz sleeve
(i.e. hard waters have greater fouling potential)
• Blocks the light
• Will occur in any water
• Hardness < 100 mg/L as CaCO3 = “slow” fouling
• Iron can be a problem (e.g. 0.5 mg/L iron may require
chemical cleaning every few days)
• Good news: Can always be controlled using existing
lamp cleaning technology (mechanical/chemical)
• (Clean the sensors too…)
Page 24 © Imperial College London
 Turbidity
• No direct correlation with UV effectiveness in the
drinking water context
• Turbidity = scattering. Scattered light can still disinfect
• Turbidity = particle enmeshed organisms
• To forbid UV for turbid waters implies another
disinfectant works better with turbidity
- No good data substantiating this
• Turbid waters may be most in need of multi-barrier
disinfection (e.g. some form of filtration before UV)
• Turbidity does affect UVT, which should be accounted
for in the design (by measuring UVT)

Page 25 © Imperial College London

 UV Basics: ‘Take-Home Messages’
• UV is a very effective disinfectant, but not a panacea
• UV handles protozoa and bacteria easily at typically
applied doses; some viruses may require higher doses
• UV is not an ‘install and forget’ technology
• Water quality matters
• Pre- and post-treatment may be necessary

Page 26 © Imperial College London