UV News

UV News Note: These UV news items have been gleaned from the Internet. The UV news are partially reproduced as found. AAW takes no responsibility for their accuracy. The links to the full UV articles were active at the time of posting.

UV Articles 2012

January 16, 2012: Fort Payne water goes ultraviolet
Times-journal.com

Water purification is looked at in a different light in Fort Payne.

The Fort Payne Water Department recently completed a $6.5 million upgrade and rehabilitation to its water treatment facility and became the first municipality in the state to install an ultraviolet disinfection process.

"We're absolutely excited about this," said Paul Nail, general manager. "We spent $6.5 million to make sure the citizens of Fort Payne are protected. We feel like we have the best and safest water in the state."

In 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency set new water quality standards, which went into effect Jan. 1. The new regulations required Fort Payne Water Department to consider alternatives to its water treatment methods.

"When we got the 2012 regulations for treating surface water, we started looking at ways to meet those mandates," Nail said. "We researched it for several years and settled on three things."

Nail said department workers replaced its outdated settling basins. The basins were built in 1969 and weren't functioning at peak capacity because of age. Nail said clarifiers were added to replace the settling basins and a building was built around them to protect the clarifiers from the elements.

As surface water comes into the water treatment facility, it passes through the clarifiers first. Nail said the clarifiers basically condition the water for further treatment.

After leaving the clarifiers, water then moves through the facility's new granular activated carbon filters. Nail said the GAC helps with the taste and odor of the water by removing contaminants and chemicals from the water.

The GAC filters also prevent changes in water quality from seasonal turnover of surface water. When the weather begins to turn cold, the water on the surface of rivers and lakes becomes cooler and sinks to the bottom. The warmer water on the bottom then rises to the surface. When the water begins to cycle, it stirs up sediment on the bottom which can cause changes in odor and taste in treated water.

After passing through the GAC filters, the water moves through a new ultraviolet light treatment process. UV disinfection is still fairly uncommon in the U.S., but is widely used in Europe. Fort Payne is the first municipality in the state to install a UV treatment process.

Ultraviolet light is highly effective at eliminating risk from protozoa and bacteria that are too small to be eliminated by filtering water.

"The UV takes care of biologics like cryptosporidium," Nail said. "There was a cryptosporidium outbreak [in 1993] in Milwaukee, Wis., that ended up killing a lot of people. We want to protect the people of Fort Payne from things like that."

Nail said the technology incorporated at Fort Payne's water treatment facility is top notch and should meet any future mandates from the EPA. He also said the capacity of the facility is more than adequate to meet the future demands of the city. Currently the facility processes about 3.4 million gallons of water a day, but is capable of treating up to 9 million gallons per day.

January 11, 2012: Asahi Kasei acquires UVC LEDs Maker Crystal IS
Semiconductor-today.com

On 28 December 2011, Japan-based diversified industrial enterprise Asahi Kasei Group acquired Crystal IS Inc of Green Island, NY, USA, which develops single-crystal aluminum nitride (AlN) substrates and ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UVC LEDs) based on them.

The Asahi Kasei Group is currently advancing ‘For Tomorrow’ projects in the fields of the environment & energy, residential living, and health care, for the creation of new businesses under its ‘For Tomorrow 2015’ mid-term management initiative. A key focus of the Environment & Energy for Tomorrow project is the development of technology to create new business with compound semiconductor devices that complement Asahi Kasei’s established gallium arsenide (GaAs)-based Hall-effect devices, infrared sensors, and magnetic resistance devices.

Since being spun off from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY, USA in 1997, Crystal IS has been working in development mode for more than ten years, with a history of early support from RPI as well as continued support from both regional and US government. Venture funding in 2004 and 2006 from ARCH Venture Partners, Lux Capital, the Credit Suisse/New York State Common Retirement Fund and Harris & Harris Group, helped the firm to scale up development.

As one element of its Environment and Energy for Tomorrow project, in July 2010 Asahi Kasei purchased shares in Crystal IS, and the two firms began the joint development of process technology for manufacturing AlN substrates. Recent collaborative and strategic support from Asahi Kasei Group as well as China’s San’an Optoelectronics Company Ltd propelled it to its current level of operation. Crystal IS currently has 25 staff.

Crystal IS had been exploring its options for commercializing the AlN-based UV LEDs that it had developed, which feature exceptionally short wavelength as well as what’s claimed to be world-leading efficiency and service life. As well as having high thermal conductivity and excellent tolerance to high voltage, AlN absorbs and emits short-wavelength UV light, which has an bactericidal effect. UV LEDs featuring smaller size, lighter weight, longer service life and energy conservation can therefore facilitate the development of portable disinfection equipment and other new applications. However, difficulty in growing AlN in pure crystal form has hindered high-volume commercial production.

Crystal IS’ technology was judged to be a good fit with Asahi Kasei’s thin-film device technology, which can provide a base for the further expansion of compound semiconductor operations, while both firms share a common vision for the development of the UV LED sector. Asahi Kasei adds that the acquisition enables combination of the technologies of Asahi Kasei and Crystal IS, as well as marking its entry into the UV LED market and providing a foundation for further developments in energy-conserving devices.

Asahi Kasei reckons that having Crystal IS as a subsidiary will enable not only the early commercialization of technology to grow single-crystal AlN substrates but also, through a combination of the two firms’ technologies, the early commercialization of UV LED devices which are expected to meet growing demand. “The advances in solid-state UVC technology accomplished by Crystal IS will allow for clean and safe disinfection to be introduced into water, air and surface applications in multiple markets,” says Masafumi Nakao, general manager of Asahi Kasei’s Advanced Devices and Sensor Systems Development Center. In addition, further developments will be explored for the application of AlN technology to other energy-conserving devices.

Crystal IS reckons that, while continuing to be based in New York State, as a subsidiary of Asahi Kasei it will be able to accelerate commercialization of its UVC LEDs, leveraging Asahi Kasei’s strength’s in product engineering and manufacturing excellence. The company will organize around its respective strengths, with R&D fundamentals and entrepreneurial business development managed from Crystal IS, and product engineering and manufacturing excellence being led by Asahi Kasei.

“Our record LED performance in development has brought interest from global customers and we are eager to create a high-quality product to meet their needs,” says Crystal IS’ CEO & president Dr Steven Berger. “We recognize Asahi Kasei Group’s strength as a successful developer and manufacturer of compound semiconductor devices and are confident that their support will ensure a timely and quality launch of our UVC LED business in the global marketplace,” he adds.

“I am pleased that this ground-breaking technology platform is moving forward into the next phase of growth,” comments Crystal IS’ co-founder & chief technology officer Leo Schowalter. “We are pleased to be part of a growing high-tech area focused on advanced materials, life science, cleantech and energy,” he adds. “We will continue our tradition of innovation and excellence, while also accelerating global business growth with our new owner.”

January 4, 2012: Berson supplies UV disinfection technology to Ukraine
Filtration + Separation

UV specialist Berson has supplied two of its InLine+ UV disinfection systems to a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in the city of Chernihiv to the north-east of Kiev.

The Berson UV systems will disinfect effluent prior to its discharge into the Desna River.
“Disinfection is necessary to meet Ukrainian bathing water standards and also to prevent effluent with high microbial loads of pathogenic viruses, parasites and bacteria entering the Desna River, which is also the main water supply for many communities downstream, including Kiev,” said Chernihiv’s waterworks director, Sergey Shkin.

“Chemical disinfection with chlorine was not an option as we wanted to avoid unpleasant disinfection by-products such as trihalomethanes (THMs) and halogenated acetic acids (HAAs), which are produced when chlorine reacts with the organic compounds in wastewater,” he said.

UV disinfection is completely chemical-free, and produces no unpleasant by-products.

The Chernihiv waterworks selected two Berson InLine 16000 systems, operating in parallel mode. Each UV chamber is equipped with 12 automatically-wiped medium pressure Multiwave UV lamps and can treat effluent at a flow rate of 2000 m3/h (4000 m3/h in total). Because of the InLine design of the closed treatment chambers, they have low headloss and are also compact with a small overall footprint.

November 2, 2011: SETi prepares high-volume manufacturing of UV LEDs
semiconductor-today.com

Sensor Electronic Technology Inc (SETi) of Columbia, SC, USA has put in motion an expansion plan to both expand its R&D efforts and to transition its production line to high-volume manufacturing, making it what it claims is the first high-volume supplier of ultraviolet (UV) LEDs shorter than 365nm, initially scaling to supply quantities of more than 100 million LEDs per year.

SETi says it was first to market with short-wavelength UV LEDs in 2004 and has since supplier a portfolio of LEDs and high-power LED lamps from 240nm to 355nm.

SETi currently operates a 15,000ft2 ISO9001-certified facility, where it runs a vertically integrated R&D and small-volume production line with epitaxial growth, chip fab, packaging and test and analysis, plus a prototyping line for integration of its LEDs into complete systems.

The first phase of the expansion, which is currently underway, involves retrofitting this facility to 20,000ft2 and converting it into the firm’s R&D center. The expansion in this facility will be focused predominantly around additional cleanroom space for chip fab and device packaging, where new mask designs, processing techniques and packaging solutions will be developed to further improve the performance of SETi’s UVTOP and UVClean devices and to ensure that SETi maintains its position in the UV LED market.

SETi recently closed on the purchase of a new property, where it will focus its high-volume manufacturing lines. The firm’s growth plans include expansion of this new facility to 130,000ft2. Initially, it will house SETi’s proprietary production metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) reactors, where the company will focus on the high-volume manufacturing of its migration-enhanced MOCVD (MEMOCVD) process that will be used for the scale up in volume of its UV LEDs and a new Engineering Center for the development of new applications and the production of custom solutions.

November 2, 2011: Xylem's WEDECO Spektron UV Systems launched With Widest Validation For Drinking Water Norms, Meeting Needs Of Small And Mid-Sized Drinking Water Plants
wateronline.com

Xylem Inc., the global water solutions business that this week spun off from ITT Corporation, has announced advanced features to its WEDECO Spektron ultraviolet (UV) light disinfection product range. The upgrades to the closed vessel UV reactors are aimed at the municipal drinking water market for flows of a few cubic meters per hour (m³/h) to more than 1,000 m³/h.

All Spektron units will be rolled out as they earn DVGW/ ÖNORM certification, and CE and UL registration. In addition, a range of units will also be validated under full compliance to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Ultraviolet Disinfection Guidance Manual (UVDGM 2006). The entire series is expected to be fully validated by mid-2012.

"The Spektron series is designed to meet all common disinfection requirements including 3-log Cryptosporidum reduction," said Mike Newberry, product manager for Xylem's WEDECO UV systems. "And since it will be evaluated to all norms, it will fit any legal requirements for drinking water."

The new Spektron units will be equipped with WEDECO's latest ECORAY UV lamp and ballast technology. In combination with the option of variable power output control, they feature excellent energy efficiency under all operating conditions. While in dim mode, the ECORAY lamps realize energy savings of up to 20 per cent of the energy and use up to 80 per cent less mercury than the previous lamp generation. With respect to sustainability, the UV lamp's power savings translate to a carbon dioxide reduction of up to 500 kg per lamp over the lamp's life cycle.

In addition, now all of the Spektron units can be ordered with an automatic wiping system and will have improved hydraulics conditions inside the reactor. Whilst the smaller units will continue to be equipped with WEDECO's CrossMix module, the larger units will have the newly developed OptiCone installed. This patent pending flow diverter ensures optimal hydraulic conditions inside the reactor under all inlet piping configurations. The excellent performance of the units will be continuously monitored by an ÖNORM compliant UV sensor that fulfils reference sensor requirements.