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Effect of reactor characteristics on the seasonal effectiveness of solar disinfection: a factorial study
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This study examined how container characteristics and seasonal variation affect the effectiveness of solar water disinfection (SODIS) using PET bottles. While PET bottles are the standard SODIS vessel, this research also highlights concerns about microplastic leaching from PET under UV exposure.
Solar disinfection (SODIS) involves exposing water stored in transparent polyethylene terephthalate (PET) containers to the sun for about 6 h of strong sunlight, after which the water is rendered safe for consumption. This study investigated the seasonal effect of reactor characteristics on the inactivation kinetics/constant of faecal coliforms by conducting a 23 factorial experiment, involving two levels of PET bottle size, PET bottle thickness, and PET bottle rear surface, uniquely combined to form 8 SODIS reactors/experimental units. The faecal coliform population of hourly samples taken from the 8 SODIS reactors showed that the inactivation kinetics/constant depends on the irradiation energy and maximum water temperature as dictated by the reactor characteristics. The average rate constant of the reflective reactors (1.37 ± 0.43 h-1) was significantly better (p < 0.001) than the absorptive reactors (1.17 ± 0.59 h-1) between June and October. The average rate constant of the small PET bottles (1.73 ± 0.65 h-1) is significantly higher (p < 0.002) than the large PET bottles (1.46 ± 0.51 h-1) from December to May; while the average rate constant of the light PET bottles (1.58 ± 0.64 h-1) is significantly better (p < 0.001) than the thick PET bottles (1.41 ± 0.52 h-1) year-round. Analyses of results confirmed a two-way interaction effect between PET bottle size and PET bottle thickness and between PET bottle rear surface and PET bottle thickness for periods with average radiation intensity of 450–500 W∙m−2. Although container size and thickness were the most significant factors, combining light PET bottles with absorptive rear-surface could extend the applicability of SODIS to regions that fall short of the recommended radiation intensity threshold of 500 W∙m−2 for 5 h.
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