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Drinking Water Sterilization Through Ultraviolet Radiation Method

Ultra Violet Lamp We'll look at both artificial and natural radiations, which needs electricity and lamps to generate the energy, and natural radiation, making use of the sun's energy for solar disinfection. Ultraviolet radiation is one type of energy along the electromagnetic spectrum, where different kinds of radiation are defined by their wavelength. Ultraviolet has wavelengths in the 100 to 400 nano meter range, whereas the visible light is in the 400 to 700 nano meter range. If we zoom in on this range we can define some subcategories. 1.The lowest wavelength we call vacuum UV. It only exists in the vacuum, but then we have UV-C, or deep ultraviolet, where the germicidal peak at 260 nano meters is found. Then you've got UV-B and UV-A shading into the visible light spectrum from 400-700 nano meters. Now in order to describe the efficacy of UV light against different types of pathogens, weneeds to first define the dose. And just as for heat, it's importan...

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Iron a Major Secondary Contaminant in Domestic and Industrial Water Supply

Iron is one of the major secondary contaminant in both domestic and industrial water supply. Iron have caused water industries several billions of dollars . Iron is the second most abundant metal in the earth's crust behind Aluminum(8%), of which iron accounts for about 5%. Elemental iron is rarely found in nature, as the iron ions Fe2+ and Fe3+ readily combine with oxygen- and sulfur-containing compounds to form oxides, hydroxides, carbonates, and sulfides. As rain fall, rain water infiltrates the soil and underlying geologic formations and dissolves iron, causing it to seep into aquifers that serve as sources of groundwater for wells. In surface water, such as rivers and lakes, dissolved iron is hardly ever found, because it readily reacts with oxygen, forms insoluble compounds and sinks out into the bottom of the water body. Iron is seldom found at concentrations greater than 10 milligrams per liter (mg/L) or 10 parts per million. The iron that seep into the sources of g...

Water and Water Contaminants

Water is an essential commodity to life. In fact, water is life, and a clean portable water is wealth. No human or animal can survive without water for a very long period of time, no matter the alternative available to such individual. It is believed that about 70% of our body mass is made up of water and also that water occupied most part of the earth than dry land. The availability of water do not mean water will be available for usage, many people live in the mist of water and yet they lack water to drink, not because there is no water but, because the available water is in an undesirable state. In order to solve this problem man devised a means to treat water, to make available water useful. Water treatment employed various methods or techniques to treat water to a desired purpose. These methods or technologies varied from simple method to complex method depending on the desired purpose whether for domestic or industrial or agricultural purpose or otherwise. From time immemor...

Back Washing Of Water Treatment Modules

Back Washing is a term used in water treatment to describe the process by which trapped or filtered contaminants in water during water treatment process are discharge or remove from the water treatment module. Figure 1 below shows a mini water treatment module, while figure 2 below shows a large pressure water treatment module( A Pressure Sand Filter Tank) Fig. 1. Treatment Module Fig. 2. Large Pressure Water Treatment Module Back Washing is a broad term which have different definition and meaning, but, in context to our lesson, it is best describe as above. Back Washing technically involved passing water in a reverse direction against the normal direction of water flow into and out of our water treatment module, during this reverse process the contaminants that were trapped such as particles, debris, flocs, e.t.c are removed or discharged from our water treatment module either into the  environment or into a waste water treatment plant. Figure 3 shows the back wa...

Heat(Boiling) A Unique Method Of Water Disinfection.

Boiling is the oldest method of household water treatment, and today it's practiced by an estimated 600 million people around the world Boiling of Water Heat, in fact, kills through different mechanisms heat impacts enzymes and causes them to denature and become non functional. It can affect the proteins that make up cells and cause them to unfold and change their shape. And also within a cell it can increase the pressure which damages cells.  We'll look at two broad classes of heat treatment; boiling and pasteurization. To understand how heat disinfection works we have to first think a little bit about temperature and pressure, and recognize that pressure affects the boiling point. If the pressure is higher, then the boiling point can be higher. And in fact, this is how an autoclave works with steam sterilization and high pressure about one bar above atmospheric pressure and that allows water to reach 121 degrees Celsius. And if it's kept there for 15 minutes under steam i...