En este trabajo, el estrés oxidativo producido con radiación en presencia TiO2 fijo o suspendido TiO2, y la relación entre cultivabilidad y viabilidad se han realizado, utilizando recuento directo de células viables (CDV) y fluorescencia de hibridación in situ (FISH). Se encontró que cuando el tratamiento es incompleto, las células viables que habían perdido su cultivabilidad pueden recuperar todas sus funciones fisiológicas, cuando son transferidas a un nuevo medio nutritivo. Por otra parte, las alteraciones en los procesos de asimilación de nutrientes fueron estudiados por 1H-RMN durante y después del tratamiento fotocatalítico. Esto permitió tener indicios sobre cómo se propaga la cadena de daños durante el tratamiento. Se demostró que el recuento en placa comúnmente usado para estimar la población de E coli en los procesos de desinfección no sería confiable, mientras que el método combinado FISH-DVC ofrece una alternativa fiable.

In this work, the oxidative stress was produced by the illumination of either fixed TiO2 or suspended TiO2, and the relation between cultivability and viability under oxidative conditions was studied using a Direct Viable Count (DVC) and Fluorescence In Situ Hybridisation (FISH) methods. Under certain oxidative conditions simulating incomplete treatments, viable cells that had lost their cultivability were observed to recover all of their physiological functions when transferred to fresh nutrient media. Moreover, alterations in the nutrient assimilation processes were studied by 1H-NMR during and after the photocatalytic treatment. This allowed us to shed some light on how the damage chain propagates during the treatment. This work demonstrate that the Standard Plate Count (SPC) method commonly used to estimate the cell populations during disinfection processes is ill adapted, whereas the FISH-DVC pair offers a reliable alternative.

In this work, TiO2 photocatalysis was used to disinfect domestic wastewaters previously treated by different biological treatment systems: Upward-flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB), facultative pond, and duckweed pond. The microorganisms monitored were E. coli, total coliforms, Shigella species, and Salmonella species. Photocatalytic experiments were carried out using two light sources: a solar simulator (UV intensity: 68-70 W m-2) and black-light lamps (BLL UV intensity: 17-20 W m-2). Samples were taken after each treatment stage. Results indicate that bacterial photocatalytic inactivation is affected by characteristics of the effluent, including turbidity, concentration of organic matter, and bacterial concentration, which depend of the type of biological pretreatment previously used.