IIn recent decades the application of UV disinfection technology in water treatment has rapidly increased on a global scale, however important uncertainties remain regarding; the methods to achieve consistent and accurate measurement of polychromatic UV output, the fluence-response of microorganisms to UV wavelengths over the entire polychromatic lamp output range, and the optimal lamp conditions and compositions to optimise polychromatic UV disinfection performance. This research aimed to address each of these areas of uncertainty. First, limitations in the existing methods that are used for lamp output measurement were identified and quantified in terms of their potential to cause significant errors in polychromatic UV fluence calculation; solutions are proposed to overcome these limitations in future polychromatic fluence measurements. Next, a novel experimental apparatus was constructed, achieving the necessary spectral requirements to produce a high resolution action spectra for waterborne microorganisms over the 200-300 nm wavelength range. Application of this experimental setup to the comparison of the fluence-response of T1 and T1UV phage, common organisms used in UV reactor validation, identified important differences in UV sensitivity dependent on host selection, and high resolution action spectra were then produced for T1UV with two hosts over the full polychromatic UV range for the first time. Also, new viral surrogates were identified using a theoretical genomic model to predict their UV sensitivities, two of which were identified as having the potential to extend the upper UV fluence validation test limits. Finally, the production of a novel high pressure plasma discharge polychromatic lamp was achieved without the use of mercury, showing considerable potential for future applications.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:702754 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Mayor-Smith, Ian |
| Contributors | Templeton, Michael |
| Publisher | Imperial College London |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/44040 |
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