For the disinfection of sewage and wastewater, multiple methods are employed, including chlorine disinfection, chlorine dioxide disinfection, and active oxygen disinfection. Determining the most effective method requires context-specific analysis. This paper investigates whether the efficacy of traditional chlorine disinfection is inferior to that of chlorine dioxide.
Chlorine is a well-established disinfectant with a long history of application. However, rapid industrial development has exacerbated water pollution, and chlorine disinfection has subsequently raised concerns regarding environmental health. Across all sectors, the primary objective of disinfection is to achieve optimal performance.
Chlorine dioxide resembles chlorine in appearance and odor, presenting as a colored gas (yellowish-green or orange-yellow) denser than air. It possesses an unpaired reactive free electron in its outer shell. Unlike chlorine, chlorine dioxide does not hydrolyze in water and remains stable as a dissolved gas within a pH range of 6–9, exhibiting long-lasting persistence. Chlorine dioxide disinfection operates through oxidation: it oxidizes and decomposes amino acids in microbial proteins, causing peptide chain cleavage and protein denaturation, thereby inactivating microorganisms. This mechanism differs from chlorination or protein denaturation alone. Chlorine dioxide is as effective as chlorine in disinfecting and sterilizing harmful substances in wastewater, and it outperforms chlorine in eliminating pollutants in secondary contaminated water sources. These findings indicate that chlorine dioxide disinfection offers distinct advantages over chlorine disinfection, particularly in the sterilization and disinfection of pathogenic microorganisms and viruses.
What Aspects do These Advantages Mainly Cover?
They mainly manifest in four aspects: 1. It can effectively control trihalomethanes; 2. It can well control the taste and odor; 3. It can also control algae; 4. It can control the amounts of heavy metals manganese and iron. If these aspects are well controlled, the water quality can be effectively managed and the safety of the water can be ensured! If treating medical wastewater, then it is necessary to do Medical Wastewater Online Monitoring, so as to directly obtain the data on water quality and judge the safety of the water quality! Another point to note is that whether it is chlorine disinfection or chlorine dioxide disinfection, it is necessary to control the total residual chlorine amount well to avoid eliminating other harmful substances and causing problems in the water quality due to the total residual chlorine. This can be monitored in real time through the RCl900 Total Residual Chlorine Online analyzer.
