During the past decade, cylindrospermopsin (CYN), a cyanobacterial toxin, has been of increasing concern to public health and water treatment management officials.  CYN was first identified in 1979 as the causative agent of human poisoning known as �Palm Island mystery disease� in Queensland, Australia. With increasing worldwide incidence of toxic cyanobacterial blooms, CYN has been found in a wide range of freshwater bodies and produced by several species of cyanobacteria.  In this study, we evaluate the removal of CYN by UV-254 nm-mediated photochemical processes. It was found that the degradation of CYN was significantly improved by photochemical processes, among which UV/S2O82- was generally found to be the most effective, followed by UV/HSO5- and then UV/H2O2. The presence of certain radical scavengers, especially natural organic matters, inhibited the destruction of CYN by UV/H2O2 much more than the other two photochemical processes. Possible presence of transitional metals in tap water samples even contributed to the enhanced treatment efficiency of CYN by UV/HSO5-.

Removal of cylindrospermopsin by UV-254 nm-mediated photochemical processes, namely UV/H2O2, UV/S2O82- and/or UV/HSO5-

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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