Disinfection of Legionella pneumophila by Ultrasonic Treatment with TiO sub(2)

• Published in: Water research (Oxford) Vol. 40; no. 6; p. 1137
• Main Authors: Dadjour, Mahmoud Farshbaf, Ogino, Chiaki, Matsumura, Susumu, Nakamura, Shinichi, Shimizu, Nobuaki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.03.2006
• Subjects: Legionella pneumophila
• ISSN: 0043-1354
• DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2005.12.047

Disinfection of Legionella pneumophila by ultrasonic treatment with titanium dioxide was identified. The objective was to apply an ultrasonic system without any ultraviolet irradiation to exploit the sonocatalytic advantages of titanium dioxide in the disinfection of Legionella pneumophila. The kinetics of the cell-killing process was also studied, in order to determine the enhancing effect of titanium dioxide on the disinfection power of the ultrasonic system. The concentrations of viable cells were reduced to 6 percent of the initial concentrations in the presence of 0.2 g/ml titanium dioxide after a 30 min of treatment period. It was observed that cell concentration decreased by an order of 3 within 30 min of treatment in the presence of 1.0 g/ml titanium dioxide.