Analysis of a UV photocatalytic oxidation-based disinfection system for hydroxyl radicals, negative air ions generation and their impact on inactivation of pathogenic micro-organisms

This work presents a large-scale surface disinfection system, which has a unique lantern arrangement of ultraviolet-C (UV-C) light (254 nm) in conjunction with nanotechnology in a protective biosafety environment. Shadow regions are best dealt in this system by the generation of hydroxyl radicals (•OH) and negative air ions at sites where UV light cannot penetrate. More than 35 000 negative air ions/cm3 along with •OH were produced continuously in the disinfection chamber through the advanced photocatalytic oxidation process [UV-C + titanium dioxide (TiO2)]. The arrangement has been made to provide an optimized UV irradiation (∼2 mW/cm2) throughout the disinfection system. In order to distinguish between effects arising from (i) the action of UV dose alone and (ii) the action of UV dose along with •OH and negative air ions, E. coli and P. aeruginosa were chosen for bacterial testing and two interventions were made. The first intervention involved placing only UV lamps in the disinfection chamber to see the effect of only UV dose on bacterial inactivation efficiency. The second intervention involved placing the TiO2 nanoparticle coated aluminum plates along with UV lamps; this allows for the generation of negative air ions and •OH inside the disinfection chamber and enhanced bacterial inactivation efficiency. More than 95% bacterial inactivation efficiency has been reported in the case of UV-C + TiO2 compared to only 77% in UV only at the same time interval (90 s).