Alexis Bandy
Pronouns: She/Her
Research Mentor(s): Krista Wigginton
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering / Engineering
Program: CG
Session: Session 6 (3:40pm – 4:30pm)
Authors: Lexie Bandy, Avery Sanchez, Delaney Snead
Abstract
Water reuse technologies are becoming increasingly popular as solutions to the growing problem of water scarcity. One of these technologies, sub-residual ozone treatment, is primarily implemented to biodegrade organic compounds prior to biofiltration, but it also removes viruses. However, it is not currently credited for virus removal because the Environmental Protection Agency only awards virus disinfection credit to treatments with a measurable residual. The purpose of this research is to study the impact of low ozone doses on virus inactivation in different wastewater matrices. Secondary effluent wastewater samples are collected after biological treatment at multiple wastewater treatment plants and their water quality parameters, such as pH, total alkalinity, and total organic carbon content, are measured using standard methods. Virus inactivation experiments are then conducted in the well-characterized wastewater samples using bench-scale reactors spiked with a combination of different ozone concentrations and with MS2, a bacteriophage commonly used as a human virus surrogate. Samples are taken at regular intervals during these experiments and the ozone residuals are quantified with the indigo colorimetric method and infectious virus concentrations with plaque assay methods. The generated data will be combined with data extracted from a systematic literature review to create a robust dataset. Ultimately, these results will be used to generate multiparameter models that will enable researchers and practitioners to assess virus removal in sub-residual ozone systems based on commonly monitored water quality parameters.
