Disinfection by UV radiation for wastewater reuse: optimisation and control

With the raised awareness of toxic disinfection by-products (DBPs) released when chlorine-based compounds are used to disinfect water, the interest in finding safe disinfection methods has increased, especially when talking about wastewater reuse. UV radiation is a reliable and safe disinfection method, but the quality of wastewater greatly affects its performance and monitoring systems provided by manufacturers are often not robust enough. Another reliable alternative is represented by peracetic acid (PAA), an emerging disinfectant that has proven to be effective and is not quoted for producing toxic DBPs. In this paper we explain our work towards creating a model for the optimisation and control of an existing UV disinfection process. This paper presents the first step in the model development; it aims at describing a multi-physical system in which hydrodynamics, UV radiation and chemical reactions are interacting at the same time, by means of advanced modelling techniques based on machine learning (i.e., Artificial Neural Networks). The final model will include the activation of additional PAA dosage when provisionally needed to comply with the target disinfection levels.