{"id":{"repo_id":"buffalo","oai_identifier":"oai:ubir.buffalo.edu:10477/84026"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/buffalo/oai:ubir.buffalo.edu:10477/84026","repository":{"repo_id":"buffalo","name":"Buffalo","base_url":"https://ubir.buffalo.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Evaluation of Wastewater Disinfectants Against Microorganisms and Extracellular DNA: A Comparison Between Chlorine, Peracetic Acid, and Combined Peracetic Acid and Ultraviolet Light","abstract":"Ph.D.","abstract_html":"Ph.D.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hassaballah, Abdulrahman; 0000-0001-7437-7845"],"institution":"State University of New York at Buffalo","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Sassoubre, Lauren","Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022-06-21T15:47:10Z","date_published":"2022-06-21T15:47:10Z","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:05:30Z","subjects":["environmental engineering","water resources management"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10477/84026","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Sassoubre, Lauren","Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Hassaballah, Abdulrahman; 0000-0001-7437-7845"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2022-06-21T15:47:10Z","2020"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["State University of New York at Buffalo"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Text","Dissertation"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["environmental engineering","water resources management"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10477/84026"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Ph.D.","Wastewater disinfection is important to protect human and ecosystem health. Peracetic acid (PAA) is gaining popularity as a wastewater disinfectant, and has the advantage of being less toxic to aquatic species and forming fewer known disinfection byproducts than traditionally used chlorine. Assessment of the relative performance of PAA and chlorine at different exposures and seasonal temperatures is still needed to promote utility adoption, especially in cold environments and for non-traditional applications such as water reuse. While laboratory studies have shown promising results on PAA's disinfection performance, knowledge gaps still remain regarding scale-up and the potential additive effect of combining PAA treatment with ultraviolet (UV) light. This dissertation examines the inactivation performance of PAA, chlorine (NaOCl), UV, and combined PAA plus UV against fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) used as water quality indicators (specifically fecal coliforms, E. coli, and Enterococcus spp.), somatic coliphage (a virus that infects E. coli), and Cryptosporidium parvum (a protozoan pathogen). In addition to microorganisms, this dissertation investigates the effect of disinfectants on extracellular DNA, which is an important area of research as concern increases that antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) released into the environment, in wastewater effluent, could contribute to the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AR) worldwide. The first chapter in this dissertation presents laboratory experiments evaluating the relative performance of PAA, NaOCl, and PAA plus UV at different exposures and seasonal temperatures, and against a range of microorganisms in authentic wastewater. Results showed PAA and NaOCl achieving comparable inactivation of E. coli and Enterococcus spp., with Enterococcus spp. exhibiting more susceptibility to increases in contact time than E. coli. Neither PAA nor NaOCl were as effective as UV at inactivating somatic coliphage, and the combined PAA plus UV was even more effective for inactivation of somatic coliphage. Cryptosporidium parvum exhibited the greatest resistance to disinfection, with all treatments achieving minimal inactivation. The second chapter of this dissertation presents a pilot-scale study of PAA performance at a local wastewater treatment plant. This study showed that increasing the applied PAA C·t resulted in an increase in the log reduction of FIB and somatic coliphage in both secondary and tertiary effluents. The relative effectiveness of increasing the applied PAA concentration versus contact time to improve microbial inactivation varied among the microorganisms. Combined PAA plus UV treatment achieved higher inactivation than PAA only for somatic coliphage in secondary effluent, and for fecal coliforms, E. coli and somatic coliphage in tertiary effluent. The third chapter of this dissertation presents laboratory experiments investigating extracellular DNA degradation by PAA, NaOCl, and PAA plus UV. NaOCl was more effective than PAA at degrading extracellular DNA in molecular grade water (MGW). In secondary effluent, both disinfectants were much less effective, and PAA appeared to be more effective than NaOCl, especially at high C·ts. UV effectively degraded extracellular DNA and had a synergistic effect when combined with PAA. Collectively, this dissertation enhances our understanding of disinfection treatments and provides evidence to support the use of PAA as a wastewater disinfectant capable of disinfecting and degrading a variety of wastewater pollutants, especially when applied in combination with UV.","**To request an accessible version of the file(s) associated with this item, contact library@buffalo.edu. Please include the item's persistent URL [http://hdl.handle.net/. . .] in your request.**"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Evaluation of Wastewater Disinfectants Against Microorganisms and Extracellular DNA: A Comparison Between Chlorine, Peracetic Acid, and Combined Peracetic Acid and Ultraviolet Light"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Sassoubre, Lauren","Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering"],"dc:creator":["Hassaballah, Abdulrahman; 0000-0001-7437-7845"],"dc:date":["2022-06-21T15:47:10Z","2020"],"dc:description":["Ph.D.","Wastewater disinfection is important to protect human and ecosystem health. Peracetic acid (PAA) is gaining popularity as a wastewater disinfectant, and has the advantage of being less toxic to aquatic species and forming fewer known disinfection byproducts than traditionally used chlorine. Assessment of the relative performance of PAA and chlorine at different exposures and seasonal temperatures is still needed to promote utility adoption, especially in cold environments and for non-traditional applications such as water reuse. While laboratory studies have shown promising results on PAA's disinfection performance, knowledge gaps still remain regarding scale-up and the potential additive effect of combining PAA treatment with ultraviolet (UV) light. This dissertation examines the inactivation performance of PAA, chlorine (NaOCl), UV, and combined PAA plus UV against fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) used as water quality indicators (specifically fecal coliforms, E. coli, and Enterococcus spp.), somatic coliphage (a virus that infects E. coli), and Cryptosporidium parvum (a protozoan pathogen). In addition to microorganisms, this dissertation investigates the effect of disinfectants on extracellular DNA, which is an important area of research as concern increases that antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) released into the environment, in wastewater effluent, could contribute to the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AR) worldwide. The first chapter in this dissertation presents laboratory experiments evaluating the relative performance of PAA, NaOCl, and PAA plus UV at different exposures and seasonal temperatures, and against a range of microorganisms in authentic wastewater. Results showed PAA and NaOCl achieving comparable inactivation of E. coli and Enterococcus spp., with Enterococcus spp. exhibiting more susceptibility to increases in contact time than E. coli. Neither PAA nor NaOCl were as effective as UV at inactivating somatic coliphage, and the combined PAA plus UV was even more effective for inactivation of somatic coliphage. Cryptosporidium parvum exhibited the greatest resistance to disinfection, with all treatments achieving minimal inactivation. The second chapter of this dissertation presents a pilot-scale study of PAA performance at a local wastewater treatment plant. This study showed that increasing the applied PAA C·t resulted in an increase in the log reduction of FIB and somatic coliphage in both secondary and tertiary effluents. The relative effectiveness of increasing the applied PAA concentration versus contact time to improve microbial inactivation varied among the microorganisms. Combined PAA plus UV treatment achieved higher inactivation than PAA only for somatic coliphage in secondary effluent, and for fecal coliforms, E. coli and somatic coliphage in tertiary effluent. The third chapter of this dissertation presents laboratory experiments investigating extracellular DNA degradation by PAA, NaOCl, and PAA plus UV. NaOCl was more effective than PAA at degrading extracellular DNA in molecular grade water (MGW). In secondary effluent, both disinfectants were much less effective, and PAA appeared to be more effective than NaOCl, especially at high C·ts. UV effectively degraded extracellular DNA and had a synergistic effect when combined with PAA. Collectively, this dissertation enhances our understanding of disinfection treatments and provides evidence to support the use of PAA as a wastewater disinfectant capable of disinfecting and degrading a variety of wastewater pollutants, especially when applied in combination with UV.","**To request an accessible version of the file(s) associated with this item, contact library@buffalo.edu. Please include the item's persistent URL [http://hdl.handle.net/. . .] in your request.**"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/10477/84026"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["State University of New York at Buffalo"],"dc:rights":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."],"dc:subject":["environmental engineering","water resources management"],"dc:title":["Evaluation of Wastewater Disinfectants Against Microorganisms and Extracellular DNA: A Comparison Between Chlorine, Peracetic Acid, and Combined Peracetic Acid and Ultraviolet Light"],"dc:type":["Text","Dissertation"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:05:30Z"}