Priva Vialux
Priva Vialux – High UV Water Disinfection Unit
As water becomes an increasingly scarce resource, growers are affected in a number of ways including: increased cost of water, poor water quality, greater expense in securing a good water supply (eg. deeper bores and/or longer pipelines).
Features:
- Allows you to safely reuse recycled water
- Can save as much as 60% on fertiliser usage
- Self monitoring to ensure reliable treatment
- Reduce the chance of crop diseases from using recycled water
Growers are increasingly facing more water supply issues. These include: decreasing water availability, higher cost of water and deteriorating water quality. To still maintain good production levels and quality, growers look at ways to treat their water supply to ensure it is safe to use with their crops.
A good way to ensure the water source is safe to use is by disinfecting the water supply with a suitable method of disinfection. Although there are a number of disinfection methods that have been tried, one that has proven particularly reliable is UV disinfection.
Independently tested by the research station in Naaldwijk, the Netherlands, the Priva Vialux has proven effective against all major threats to plant health including bacterial disease, fungal infections, nematodes and even viruses. The level of treatment can be set by the operator and because the system is self regulating and self-monitoring, the grower can be rest assured the water is safe to use.
The Priva Vialux has been specifically designed to treat fresh, recirculated drain water or both. One of the greatest benefits of the Vialux is that it has little effect on the nutrients present in the drain water. This means that the grower gets the full benefit of the nutrients so the grower can not only save on water use but also fertiliser use.
This can save up to 60% of the fertiliser use. Typical fertiliser saving is in excess of $35,000 per ha per year.
What is important is that the drain water is tested on a regular basis and the stock tank fertiliser mixes are adjusted to ensure the nutrient balance for the crop remains consistent.
The Priva Vialux automatically varies not only the flow rate of water being treated but also the lamp power level. This is to ensure that the minimum amount of energy is used to achieve the desired level of treatment.
Other UV treatment systems use an array of Low Pressure lamps which typically cannot vary lamp power level.
Priva Vialux systems offer the best total solution for supply water disinfection. The system demands little energy and minimum maintenance and ensures pathogen-free water.
The system features a motorised wiper to clean the quartz tube. Then, when the UV transmission drops further, the system cleans the quartz tube with acid. You can be confident that your water is safe to use.
How Priva UV disinfection works
Dirt particles are always present in drain water. Particles suspended in the water cause shadows and may allow disease through. Before the Vialux process begins, the water must be filtered, using for example, a slow-acting sand filter, very fine screen or disc filter(s).
The water to be disinfected is pumped through the radiation chamber with significant turbulence, ensuring that all the water is exposed to the UV radiation for the same amount of time and at the same level of intensity. The single lamp in the Vialux is enclosed in a quartz tube, and irradiates the water passing through the chamber with UV-C light.
The UV-C intensity used to irradiate the water is measured by a built in calibrated UV-C sensor.
The UV disinfection system works by using active UV-C radiation. This has a wavelength of approximately 250 nanometers, and alters the DNA of micro-organisms, such as microbes, bacteria and moulds, thereby destroying them. UV-C light can also kill viruses.
The permeability of UV-C light depends on the transmission level of the water. The Vialux automatically calculates and operates at the optimum radiation level by continuously monitoring the water being treated.
For selective disinfection (microbes, bacteria and moulds) the UV-C intensity 80 – 100mJ/ cm2 is used, and for total disinfection (including all viruses), the minimum UV-C dose is 250mJ/ cm2 is standard. These lethal doses render pathogens completely inactive. The disinfected water is then pumped into a ‘treated water’ tank for irrigation.
Specifications of Vialux High Pressure UV
- The high pressure (HP/UV) system produces UV-C radiation between 200-300nm.
- Minimal reduction in pH levels.
- Minimal change in the nutrient levels of the water (some effect on chelated nutrients). Therefore most nutrients are recycled.
- Automatic cleaning during use – including automatic quartz tube wiping and acid backwash of the quartz tube.
- Power level control for efficient power consumption.
- Process control and safeguarding by Priva process controller.
- Automatic T10 (UV transmission through water) calculation and continuous monitoring of UV transmission.
- Computer-controlled disinfection process.
- UV transmission values can be as low as 20%, allowing disinfection of unmixed drain water.
- Simple design, low maintenance, stand-alone unit – one exposure chamber, one UV lamp and one UV-C measurement.
- Fast, safe and pollution-free treatment of micro-organisms.
- Range of models available.
- Full system design is recommended – contact us in the early stages of planning.
