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Disinfection kinetics: a new hypothesis and model for the tailing of log‐survivor/time curves
Author(s) -
Lambert R.J.W.,
Johnston M.D.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 1364-5072
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2672.2000.01060.x
Subject(s) - biocide , kinetics , quenching (fluorescence) , chemistry , thermodynamics , environmental chemistry , biological system , physics , biology , organic chemistry , optics , quantum mechanics , fluorescence
A new hypothesis for the understanding of chemical disinfection, which we have termed the Intrinsic Quenching hypothesis, is presented. This mechanistic treatment of disinfection kinetics is based on the hypothesis that the biocide concentration may not be in vast excess over the microbes, as is normally assumed. A mathematical model was developed and found to be useful in describing the observed kinetics of several disinfectants. The model suggested that the reason for the observation of non‐linear, log‐survivor curves was due to the ability of the microbes, in clean, soil‐free conditions, to intrinsically quench the bulk concentration of biocide.