The complex contaminants in reclaimed water sources and delayed feedback of microbial detection have brought tremendous challenges to disinfection process control. The identification of sensitive and online surrogates for indicating microbial inactivation efficacy is vital to evaluate and optimize the disinfection technologies and processes. This study analyzes the inactivation of microbial indicators during ozone disinfection at a pilot-scale study over 5 months. It is identified that total fluorescence (TF) intensity, ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm (UV₂₅₄) and intracellular adenosine triphosphate (cATP) concentration can act as surrogates in predicting microbial inactivation by ozone. Particularly, the empirical linear correlations for log removal values (LRV) of TF, UV₂₅₄ and cATP concentration are developed for the inactivation of four widely applied microbial indicators, namely the total coliforms, fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli (E. coli) and heterotrophic plate count (HPC) (R² = 0.86–0.96). Validation analyses are further conducted to verify the robustness and effectiveness of empirical models. Notably, TF is considered as the most efficient surrogate due to its high sensitivity, accuracy and reliability, whereas cATP concentration is an efficient supplement to directly reflect total microbial counts. The study is important to provide a rapid and reliable approach for ozone disinfection efficiency evaluation and prediction.

再生水源中污染物的复杂性和微生物检测的延迟反馈给消毒过程控制带来了巨大挑战。识别用于指示微生物灭活功效的敏感和在线替代物对于评估和优化消毒技术和工艺至关重要。本研究在超过 5 个月的中试规模研究中分析了臭氧消毒过程中微生物指标的失活情况。已确定总荧光 (TF) 强度、254 nm 处的紫外吸光度 (UV ₂₅₄ ) 和细胞内三磷酸腺苷 (cATP) 浓度可作为预测臭氧对微生物灭活的替代指标。特别是，TF、UV _{254的对数去除值 (LRV) 的经验线性相关性}和 cATP 浓度用于灭活四种广泛应用的微生物指标，即总大肠菌群、粪大肠菌群、大肠杆菌( E.coli ) 和异养平板计数 (HPC) (R ² = 0.86–0.96)。进一步进行验证分析以验证经验模型的稳健性和有效性。值得注意的是，TF 因其高灵敏度、准确性和可靠性被认为是最有效的替代物，而 cATP 浓度是直接反映总微生物计数的有效补充。该研究为臭氧消毒效率评估和预测提供快速可靠的方法具有重要意义。