Developing and Study of on-line Biotoxicity Sensing and Control Unit for Wastewater Treatment, based on a Cell Viability Monitoring Assay

The quality of industrial, municipal or hospital waters varies greatly throughout the days and seasons. Because usually one of the first steps of water treatment plants (WWTPs) is biological treatment (after mechanical cleaning) it is vital that this step operates at full capacity. However, toxic compounds such as antibiotics, which are in use for human consumption or animal agriculture can greatly disrupt this stage of cleaning due to their antibiological nature of operation. Technion has developed a system in which toxicity to bacteria is measured on-line. It is based on following spectral changes in a dye, which is reduced as part of bacterial metabolism, which depends on the level of toxicity. The measured toxicity values are fed to a PID controller, which controls the operation of an AOP reactor. This system was developed as part of "Project O", a H2020 program of the European Commission.