Inactivation of enteric viruses in wastewater sludge

Conference · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1976

OSTI ID:7124642

Ward, R L

The purpose of the work being carried out at Sandia Laboratories on enteric viruses is to find the most plausible methods of inactivating these pathogens in sludge. This study is feasible only when using sludge seeded with a large number of infectious viruses and is meaningful only when virus recovery is monitored using purified, radioactively labeled viruses. Using these techniques it is possible to determine both the rate and mechanism of virus inactivation expected during each stage of sludge treatment. The results presented here have been obtained during the initial phase of this work. It has been shown that both raw and digested sludge contain an agent with cidal activity against enteroviruses whose expression is dependent on pH. This agent is the uncharged form of ammonia. The presence of this agent greatly accelerates the rate of heat inactivation of viruses in sludge. Because anaerobic digestion of sludge typically occurs at pH 7, a pH at which ammonia is in its charged, non-virucidal state, this agent probably contributes little toward the inactivation of viruses during the anaerobic digestion process.

• Research Organization: Sandia Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: E(29-1)-789
• OSTI ID: 7124642
• Report Number(s): SAND-76-5748; CONF-761211-1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320604 -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Municipalities & Community Systems-- Municipal Waste Management-- (1980-)
550700* -- Microbiology
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
AMMONIA
ANAEROBIC DIGESTION
BIOCONVERSION
DIGESTION
HEAT TREATMENTS
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INACTIVATION
MANAGEMENT
MICROORGANISMS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN HYDRIDES
PARASITES
PH VALUE
PROCESSING
SLUDGES
VIRUSES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING