Using Light to Disinfect Water

Selected Song: SHINE by Collective Soul

An international research team has developed a photocatalyst to disinfect water using sunlight or artificial light and even after the lights are turned off. While there have been variations of this technology, it's the newly developed photocatalyst that is activated using visible light, unlike UV rays, and causing the needed chemical reaction. Nanoparticles of palladium are involved in the disinfection process. Using the photocatalyst, after an hour of shining a halogen desk lamp over a high concentration of E. coli, the bacteria dropped from 10 million cells per liter to one cell per 10,000 liters. This test, also conducted in the dark, was a success. An advantage to its ability to disinfect quickly, is that large volumes of water could be cleaned by exposing the tainted water to light as it flowed through pipes.

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Shine - Collective Soul