5.3 What are the different methods to realise disinfection?

Depending on the end-use of the effluent or national standards for discharge and end-use, tertiary filtration and disinfection processes may be required to remove pathogens. Disinfection treatments can be divided into conventional, advanced, and natural processes, as shown in the following schema. The factors to be considered when choosing a disinfection treatment may include, other wastewater characteristics (type and concentration of microorganisms), desired final effluent quality, disinfectant agent toxicity and disinfection by-product formation.

For emergency settings and developing countries in general, reliable and accessible solutions should be chosen. The following topics will, therefore, focus on chemical disinfection using chlorine and radiation using ultraviolet (UV) light. Furthermore, tertiary filtration is an alternative that can be suitable depending on the effluent purpose and requirements.