Microbial disinfection of water using hydrodynamic cavitational reactors

Abstract

Abstract Water disinfection is gaining importance with increasing waterborne diseases and associated impacts on human health. An approach based on hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) is highly beneficial for water disinfection. The physical and chemical transformation that occurred during HC is useful for microbial inactivation. The selection of a cavitation chamber/geometry plays a crucial role in the HC performance and energy requirements. It depends on serval factors such as operation, maintenance, wearing internal parts of geometry, frequency of replacement of parts of the cavitational chamber. The present review summarizes the work on HC-assisted water disinfection. A detailed analysis has been presented on the understanding mechanism of HC-assisted microbial disinfection and operational parameters such as type and selection of constriction area. Handpump is used for providing the disinfected water to rural masses in developing and under-developing nations. Detailed guidelines have been presented on modified water handpump base on principles of hydrodynamic cavitation. HC is considered a highly energy-intensive operation and provides significant benefits compared to existing microbial methods. Substantial efforts are required for the development of an energy-efficient hydrodynamic cavitation technique for microbial water disinfection.