PFI:AIR - TT: Development and Commercialization of the HAOPs Water Treatment Process

这一加速创新研究：技术转化项目的重点是将一种新的水处理工艺从实验室(“概念验证”)阶段转化为可在市政水处理厂进行测试的阶段。面对当前水源的水量和质量不断减少，发达国家和发展中国家都面临着廉价生产清洁、健康的水的迫切需要。在过去的二十年里，饮用水供应领域最有希望的发展之一是膜处理工艺的改进。然而，这些系统仍然远低于其潜力，因为膜孔很容易堵塞(被污染)。该项目正在开发的工艺使用一种新型颗粒(受热氧化铝颗粒，简称HAOP)来收集污染物，并以非传统的方式部署颗粒(在支撑物上沉积一层极薄的颗粒并使水通过该层)，从而去除的堵塞膜孔的物质远远多于使用现有工艺所能去除的物质。此外，这一过程似乎可能比目前的技术使用更少的能源和更低的成本。该项目的成果将是设计一个可以在运行中的饮用水处理厂进行测试的中试系统。要使新的处理工艺成功需要调查的技术问题包括开发一个新模块，该模块包含大量的表面面积，可以在其上放置HAOP，同时仍然保持相对较小的占地面积。建议的设计是一个整体，但多孔的圆柱体，包含多个贯穿整个轴向长度的小圆柱形通道。HAOPS层将沿这些通道的壁沉积，因此给水必须通过该层，然后通过多孔固体才能离开。该模块必须在治疗周期开始时有效地捕获HAOPs，然后在治疗周期结束时同样有效地释放它们。沉积和释放步骤都需要对水流模式进行优化选择和仔细控制，而优化步骤将是该项目的主要重点。此外，还将探索对该工艺产生的污泥进行脱水和压实的方法，并对整个工艺进行成本效益分析。最后，本科生和研究生以及博士后研究员将通过研究团队中共同创立了三家能源效率和水处理部门公司的合作伙伴的指导，以及参加与潜在设备制造商和技术投资者的会议，获得创业和技术翻译经验。

This Accelerating Innovation Research: Technology Translation project focuses on translating a novel water treatment process from the laboratory ("proof-of-concept") stage to a stage where it can be tested at municipal water treatment plants. Both the developed and developing worlds face a critical need to produce clean, healthy water, cheaply, in the face of diminishing quantities and quality of water from current sources. One of the most promising developments in drinking water supply over the past two decades is the improvement in membrane-based treatment processes. However, these systems still operate well below their potential because the membrane pores are easily plugged (fouled). The process being developed in this project uses a new type of particle (heated aluminum oxide particles, or HAOPs) to collect contaminants and deploys the particles in an unconventional way (depositing an extremely thin layer of the particles on a support and passing the water through that layer), and thereby removes far more of the material that plugs the pores of membranes than can be removed using currently available processes. Furthermore, the process appears likely to use less energy and be less costly than current technology. The outcome of the project will be a design for a pilot-scale system that can be tested at an operating drinking water treatment plant.The technical issues requiring investigation for the new treatment process to be successful include the development of a new module containing substantial surface area onto which the HAOPs can be deposited, while still maintaining a relatively small footprint. The proposed design is a monolithic, but porous, cylinder containing multiple small, cylindrical channels penetrating the full axial length. The HAOPs layer will be deposited along the walls of these channels, so that feed water must pass through the layer and then through the porous solid before exiting. The module must capture the HAOPs efficiently at the beginning of a treatment cycle and then release them equally efficiently at the end. Both the deposition and release steps require optimal choices and careful control of the water flow patterns, and that optimization step will be a major focus of the project. In addition, the approaches for dewatering and compacting sludge from the process will be explored, and a cost-benefit analysis of the overall process will be carried out. Finally, undergraduate and graduate students, as well as a postdoctoral researcher, will receive entrepreneurship and technology translation experiences through mentorship by a partner on the research team who has co-founded three companies in the energy efficiency and water treatment sectors, and by participation in meetings with potential manufacturers of the equipment and investors in the technology.