Water disinfection by acoustic and hydrodynamic cavitation

The phenomena of cavitation which is associated with the formation, growth and the collapse of microbubbles, leads to the generation of very high pressures and temperatures locally, which can cause cellular damage. This paper explores the microbicidal effectiveness of cavitation for the disinfection of bore well water for potable use. Experiments performed in this study indicate that hydrodynamic cavitation is an energy efficient and economical technique compared to the other conventional non-chemical water treatment processes and cavitation was found to be a potential physical water disinfection technique for the production of potable water. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. Ah rights reserved.