Viruses in wastewater can pose significant risks to human health if not appropriately treated before being released into the environment. The effectiveness of a ultraviolet disinfection system to deactivate a virus depends on the virus type.

A large meat processing plant in the South Island of New Zealand are investigating ultraviolet disinfection options for their wastewater treatment.

Novolabs™ Supercritical UV™ system was tested side by side with the existing submerged channel ultraviolet disinfection system which had been supplied by one of the world’s largest ultraviolet companies.

Waste stabilisation ponds are used in tens of thousands of applications around the globe. But while ponds continue to offer many advantages there is increasing need to upgrade treatment performance.

UVT is a measure of how much ultraviolet light can pass through a liquid. A UVT of 100% means all the ultraviolet light can pass through the liquid, whereas a UVT of 0% is opaque not allowing any ultraviolet light through.

Typical of meat works effluent, the ultraviolet transmittance (UVT) was extremely low. Even with chemical pre-treatment, the maximum UVT recorded during the 2-week test period was only 0.3%