DISINFECTION
This is the most common application of UV light in water treatment. A properly sized UV system is designed to meet a minimum of 3 Log reduction a minimum of 30,000 micro-watt seconds (or 30mJ/cm2) at one year, the end-of-lamp life (EOL). Some typical locations of installation would be: points-of-fill, points-of-rinse, brine solutions, post-carbon filter, pre-membrane filtration or RO (reverse osmosis), post-water and pre-syrup storage tanks. A UV system can significantly reduce the microbial counts by destroying at least 99.9% of the bacteria present in the influent stream, when installed at the appropriate locations in the treatment process loop such as downstream of the carbon bed and/or directly upstream of the membrane filtration or RO.
TOC REDUCTION
In ultrapure water systems, UV treatment is used for the effective reduction of organics, commonly referred to as TOC. Reduction of TOC is accomplished by incorporating a 185nm UV system appropriately designed and sized as well as strategically placed.
OZONE DESTRUCTION
Ozone is commonly used in the pretreatment area of a water system as well as for sanitizing process and recalculating systems. Prior to the point-of-use, the residual ozone needs to be destroyed to ensure the product is not contaminated. Because of non-chemical and fast mechanism, UV technology is the preferred method for this application. After taking into the appropriate variables, a properly sized UV unit can be guaranteed to destroy the ozone to non-detectable limits, insuring the integrity of the process and the product.
CHLORINE/CHLORAMINES DESTRUCTION
While the addition of chlorine and chloramines to city water may control bacteria levels, they have undesirable effects on the degradation of membrane filtration or RO. But popular methods of removal, such as carbon beds or chemical injection, have proven to be problematic. Sodium metabisulfite involves removing one chemical with another and creates food for organisms, while carbon beds can be inefficient, vulnerable to channeling and provide breeding grounds for micro-organisms. Aquafine Corporation pioneered the technology of chlorine and chloramines destruction utilizing UV light in the pre-membrane filtration or RO make-up water stream.