Abstract

Removal of pathogenic microorganisms can represent a key challenge for decentralised wastewater treatment solutions(Naughton and Mihelcic, 2017). Although conventional mechanical and biological treatments that aim for chemical contaminant removal can also reduce pathogen content, they are not normally designed to reduce pathogen loads to a safe level for treated wastewater discharge to water bodies and other sensitive areas, use in irrigation, recreation or reuse as drinking water (Momba et al., 2019; UK Government, 2013; USEPA, 2012). In such cases, dedicated microorganism removal or inactivation treatments are required to adequately disinfect treated wastewater.Disinfection is the killing of infectious agents outside the body through direct exposure to chemical or physical agents. In a wastewater context this is typically via the use of UV, Chlorine, Ozone and other methods.Decentralised wastewater treatmentsystems are often deliberately deployed where resources for operation, monitoring and maintenance are lacking — which means that disinfection options for decentralised wastewater treatment need to be low in technological complexity, energy demand, cost and maintenance(Naughton and Mihelcic, 2017).