Measuring the performance of conventional and emerging ultraviolet-C light sources for bacterial, fungal, and mycotoxin control

Abstract

The performance of two conventional monochromatic ultraviolet-C (UV-C) low pressure mercury (LPM) sources (single and multiple lamps) was measured and compared with three emerging UV sources: a monochromatic KrCl* excimer lamp and UV-LEDs, and a polychromatic pulsed light (UV-C PL) lamp. Fluence-based kinetic parameters and electrical energy per order (EE0) of the UV sources was determined for the inactivation of E. coli bacteria, the reduction of deoxynivalenol (DON) mycotoxin, and F. graminearum spore growth to assess feasibility for various processing targets. The impact on E. coli photoreactivation and dark repair was also assessed. Each of the five UV sources excelled in certain applications while not being feasible for others. The UV-C PL lamp was the most effective for E. coli inactivation, requiring the lowest fluence of 1.4 mJ/cm2 for 5-log10 reduction. The KrCl* excimer lamp was the most effective for preventing subsequent photoreactivation. The UV-LEDs and LPM lamp were equally effective for reducing fungal spore growth requiring 77.0 and 90.1 mJ/cm2 to achieve 90% reduction, respectively. The KrCl* excimer and UV-C PL lamps were the most effective at reducing DON contamination requiring 1250 and 500 mJ/cm2 to achieve 90% reduction, respectively. The evaluation of EE0 showed that the conventional LPM source with multiple lamps had approximately 2–3-fold better electrical efficiency for the reduction of all three tested targets due to its high wall plug efficiency compared to the next best UV-C PL lamp. This indicates that energy efficiency of emerging UV sources needs to be improved in further development.