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

这个加速创新研究：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地生产清洁、健康的水，因为现有水源的水的数量和质量都在下降。在过去的二十年里，饮用水供应最有希望的发展之一是膜处理工艺的改进。然而，这些系统仍然在低于其潜力的情况下运行，因为膜孔容易堵塞（结垢）。该项目正在开发的工艺使用一种新型颗粒（加热的氧化铝颗粒，或HAOPs）来收集污染物，并以非常规方式部署颗粒（在支撑物上沉积极薄的颗粒层，并使水通过该层），从而去除比目前可用的工艺更多的堵塞膜孔的材料。此外，该工艺似乎比现有技术使用更少的能源，成本更低。该项目的成果将是一个中试规模的系统，可以在一个运行的饮用水处理厂进行测试的设计。新的处理工艺要取得成功，需要调查的技术问题包括开发一个新的模块，该模块包含大量的表面积，HAOPs可以沉积在上面，同时仍然保持相对较小的足迹。所提出的设计是一个整体的，但多孔，圆柱体包含多个小，圆柱形通道穿透整个轴向长度。HAOPs层将沿着这些通道的壁沉积，使得给水在离开之前必须穿过该层，然后穿过多孔固体。该模块必须在治疗周期开始时有效地捕获HAOP，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最佳选择和对水流模式的仔细控制，而最佳步骤将是该项目的主要重点。此外，还将探讨该工艺产生的污泥脱水和压实的方法，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的合作伙伴的指导获得创业和技术翻译经验，该合作伙伴共同创立了三家能源效率和水处理行业的公司，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.