Comparison of Ultraviolet Disinfection, Ozone, And Chlorine Dioxide Technologies

Table of Content [Hide]

Currently used disinfection technologies mainly include liquid chlorine, ozone, chlorine dioxide, and ultraviolet light. Due to the secondary pollution caused by liquid chlorine disinfection and the irritation of residual chlorine to the human body, other disinfection methods without similar problems have been adopted. Among them, ozone, ultraviolet light, and chlorine dioxide are the most important and emerging disinfection methods. A comparison of the effectiveness and advantages and disadvantages of various disinfection and sterilization methods is shown in the table.

Project	liquid chlorine	Chlorine dioxide	Ultraviolet rays	ozone
Processing time required	10~30 minutes	Slightly faster than liquid chlorine	Minimum	5~10 minutes
Effectiveness against bacteria	have	have	have	have
Effectiveness against the virus	Some	Some	Some	have
Equipment investment	lowest	Higher than liquid chlorine, but much lower than other methods.	Higher than ozone	Five times the concentration of liquid chlorine
Operating costs	lowest	Higher than liquid chlorine, but slightly lower than other methods.	Similar to ozone	Higher than liquid chlorine
Advantage	1. Low price 2. Mature technology 3. Protective residual chlorine 4. Has the ability to continuously kill bacteria	1. Low price 2. Can be manufactured on-site; mature technology. 3. Has continuous sterilization ability	Fast sterilization effect	1. Quickly removes color and odor 2. Broad-spectrum sterilization and disinfection, with a disinfection efficiency 15 times that of chlorine disinfection. 3. No secondary pollution
Shortcoming	1. Ineffective against viruses 2. Its oxidizing properties are harmful to the human body. 3. It has an irritating odor and can damage human skin.	1. Ineffective against viruses 2. Gaseous chlorine dioxide is a highly toxic compound, harmful to the human body, and like liquid chlorine, it produces carcinogenic secondary pollutants.	1. Expensive 2. Lacks sustained sterilization ability 3. High requirements for water pretreatment. 4. Weak penetration	1. Expensive 2. Lacks sustained sterilization ability 3. High safety requirements
Suitable type	All types of wastewater treatment or water supply treatment	1. All types of wastewater treatment 2. All types of water supply treatment	Simple air sterilization, hospital wastewater, beverage production water, sewage treatment and discharge	1. Suitable for sterilization and disinfection in all water treatment applications. 2. Air disinfection 3. Disinfection of instrument surfaces

The table above shows that ozone and ultraviolet light are similar in effectiveness for disinfection and sterilization, but ozone has a wider range of applications. In terms of equipment investment and operating costs, ozone ≈ ultraviolet light > chlorine dioxide > liquid chlorine. However, based on an overall evaluation of various disinfection methods, ozone is a very effective method for sterilization and disinfection.

References

PREV: Commonly Used Sample Preservation Techniques for Laboratory Water – Table 10 (Toxicity Testing)

NEXT: History and Current Status of Reverse Osmosis Technology