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

“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”）阶段转化为可以在市政水处理厂进行测试的阶段。发达国家和发展中国家都迫切需要廉价生产清洁、健康的水，因为现有水源的水的数量和质量都在下降。在过去二十年中，饮用水供应领域最有前途的发展之一是膜处理工艺的改进。然而，由于膜孔很容易堵塞（污染），这些系统的运行仍然远远低于其潜力。在这个项目中开发的工艺使用一种新型颗粒（加热氧化铝颗粒，或HAOPs）来收集污染物，并以一种非常规的方式部署颗粒（在支架上沉积一层极薄的颗粒，然后让水通过该层），从而去除更多堵塞膜孔的物质，而不是使用现有的工艺。此外，与现有技术相比，这一过程似乎可能使用更少的能源，成本更低。该项目的结果将是设计一个可在正在运行的饮用水处理厂进行测试的中试规模系统。为了使新处理工艺取得成功，需要研究的技术问题包括开发一个新的模块，该模块包含可以沉积HAOPs的较大表面积，同时仍然保持相对较小的占地面积。提出的设计是一个单片但多孔的圆柱体，包含多个小的圆柱形通道，贯穿整个轴向长度。HAOPs层将沿着这些通道的壁面沉积，因此给水必须先通过HAOPs层，然后再通过多孔固体才能流出。该模块必须在处理周期开始时有效地捕获HAOPs，然后在结束时同样有效地释放它们。沉积和释放步骤都需要优化选择和仔细控制水流模式，而优化步骤将是项目的主要焦点。此外，将探讨该工艺中污泥的脱水和压实方法，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一名博士后研究员将获得创业和技术翻译经验，方法是由研究团队中的一名合作伙伴指导，该合作伙伴在能源效率和水处理领域共同创立了三家公司，并参加与潜在设备制造商和技术投资者的会议。

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.