Ozonation for the primary disinfection of
drinking water is typically carried out using
a contactor consisting of multiple vertical or
horizontal chambers connected in series.
Nonideal mixing conditions in these chambers
can strongly reduce the overall efficiency
of the disinfection process and can
lead to excessive formation of disinfection
byproducts such as bromate.
This research is the first to use a new technique,
three-dimensional laser-induced fluorescence
(3D LIF), to visually and quantitatively
examine the unsteady, three-dimensional flow and mixing inside an ozone contactor.
This analysis provides information that has
not been possible to obtain with traditional
tracer methods. The technique developed in
this study is a new tool for designing and optimizing
ozone contactors to achieve regulatory
compliance and is also expected to be highly
useful when evaluating, optimizing, and
designing other disinfection reactors. Includes 22 references, figures.