Effect of temperature on ozone inactivation of Cryptosporidium parvum in oxidant demand-free phosphate buffer

Ozone inactivation of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts was studied at bench-scale in 0.05 M phosphate buffer at 1 to 37 degreesC, pH 6-8. Animal infectivity using neonatal CD-1 mice was used for evaluation of oocyst infectiousness following treatment. Survival curves of ozone inactivation were characterized by a tail-off effect, with an initial shoulder most evident at low temperature. Temperature was a critical factor for ozone inactivation kinetics with a significant decrease of ozone efficacy at low temperature. Accounting for ozone residual stability at different pH conditions, pH was found to have no significant effect on the activation of C. parvum by ozone. Inactivation kinetics at different temperatures were expressed as an Incomplete gamma Hom model with different reaction rate constants, adjusted for water temperature using the van't Hoff-Arrhenius relationship. Between 1 and 37 degreesC, for every 10 degreesC decrease in the water temperature, the inactivation rate constant decreased by a factor of 2.2, corresponding to activation energy of 51.7 kJ/mol. Ozone disinfection design criteria for 1.0 and 2.0 log-units of inactivation of Cryptosporidium were developed for various water temperatures, and 90% confidence intervals are also provided.