2024 AIChE Annual Meeting

(173z) Bromate-Free Disinfection of Bottled Water Using High Voltage Impulse

Author

Chang, I. - Presenter, Hoseo University
Disinfection using ozonation for bottled water usually produces various kinds of disinfection byproducts (DBPs). Among the DBPs, bromate (BrO3-) is notorious for its potential carcinogenic nature. World Health Organization (WHO) limits the bromate to 10 ppb in drinking water. To reduce this bromate formation during the disinfection processes, a high voltage impulse (HVI) technique was applied in this study. HVI has been used as one of the disinfection processes for non-thermal sterilization of foods. The HVI system consisted of a power supply, high voltage generator, capacitors, and impulse generator. HVI with 10 to 20 kV/cm of electric fields was introduced to sample waters to determine if bromates were formed. As the precursor of bromate, i.e., bromide (Br-) spiked into the sample waters by 1,000 ppb, bromate was not generated at all times, indicating that the bromate formation was completely inhibited. A model microorganism, Escherichia coli is inoculated to the sample waters to test the disinfection efficiency. More than 2-log reduction (99 %) of E.coli was achieved after HVI treatment with 20kV/cm, 100Hz, 4μs pulse width. Consequently, the HVI technique could be used as an alternative strategy for bromate free-disinfection procedures for water disinfection.