Evaluation of a UV-light emitting diodes unit for the removal of micropollutants in water for low energy advanced oxidation processes

• UV/LEDs are able to provide appropriate irradiance for use in advanced oxidation processes.
• UV/LEDs-based AOPs should become cost neutral with low pressure lamp-based AOPs by 2019.
• If aggregation problem is solved, UV/TiO2 appears as the most promising technology due to its chemical free potential.
• Wall plug efficiency and input power of UV/LEDs need significant improvements to become competitive.

There is growing interest in using light emitting diodes (LEDs) as alternative to traditional mercury lamps for the removal of micropollutants by advanced oxidation processes due to their low energy consumption and potential for high efficiency and long lifetime. This study investigates the penetration and coverage of the light emitted by LEDs in order to build an optimised LED collimated beam apparatus. From the experimental data, cost analysis was conducted in order to identify when LEDs will become economically viable. It was observed that if their development follows the predictions, LEDs should be a viable alternative to traditional lamps within 7 yr for both UV/H2O2 and UV/TiO2 processes. However, parameters such as wall plug efficiency and input power need to improve for LEDs to become competitive.