UV-LEDs for Water Disinfection - Are We Close?

摘要

Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection systems are gaining popularity in water and wastewater treatment applications due to their effectiveness in inactivating chlorine-resistant microorganisms without forming any known disinfection byproducts. The main criticisms of UV disinfection systems are the mercury content of the UV lamps used by all major manufacturers of UV water disinfection reactors, lamp replacement costs, and system energy usage. Thus, alternative sources of UV radiation, specifically within the germicidal or UV-C range, continue to be investigated. One promising technology is UV light emitting diodes (UV-LEDs). UV-LEDs do not contain mercury, do not require a warm-up time period, provide design flexibility due to their small size, and have the potential for a longer operational life than conventional mercury lamps (Bowker et al., 2010).