PFI:AIR - TT: High Throughput Plasma Water Purifier

该PFI：空气技术翻译项目的重点是翻译研究等离子体与液态水的相互作用，以净化水的目的。这种水净化方法将满足对能够去除有毒化学品的技术的需求，这些有毒化学品包括药物、化学废物和农药，这些化学品无法通过常规方法有效去除。 这种高通量净水器非常重要，因为它有可能去除水中的大多数有机污染物，并对水中的有害病毒和细菌进行消毒。 该技术可用于水再利用应用中，其中废水可以用这种等离子体方法处理，以将污染物水平降低到远低于最大允许浓度，使得其可以用于饮用水（饮用）和非饮用水应用（例如锅炉水，洗车和消防）。 这种能力使社区能够抵御干旱甚至化学品泄漏。 该技术还具有降低工业成本和相关环境破坏的潜力，将剧毒废水处理到可以在工厂重复使用的程度。 该项目将产生高通量等离子体净化器原型，并将在实际的市政和工业废水处理厂测试等离子体净化器，以证明在真实的环境中的功能和可扩展性。高通量等离子体净化器具有以下独特的功能：1）可扩展性，2）它不需要消耗品来操作，以及3）它在水中驱动多种化学过程，快速将污染物减少到二氧化碳和水。这些特征提供了性能的优点，例如污染物的快速分解和成本节约，不需要诸如有毒氯或过氧化物的消耗品，提供了高的电气和化学转换效率，并且提供了从使用点应用到作为模块集成到实际水处理厂的范围内的实施的便利性。 支持水处理应用的传统高级氧化方法需要使用有毒消耗品来驱动专门的反应以产生氧化剂以及容纳和应用化学品的基础设施。高通量净化器使用常规空气产生用于水处理的等离子体，从而消除了对昂贵的消耗品的需要以及存储和应用这些化学品的基础设施的相关费用。该项目解决了可扩展性的技术差距，因为它从研究发现转化为商业应用。虽然基于等离子体的水处理在过去已经进行了研究，具有令人印象深刻的分解效率，但其广泛应用仍然难以实现。 这在很大程度上是由于难以从实验室证明的固定体积中的10 s毫升扩大到直流流动水应用中的10 s升/分钟。该反应器的关键创新在于将水的几何解构为使得流过反应器的水的等离子体覆盖最大化的形式。 表面等离子体与水反应，产生随后处理堆芯水的自由基。在执行这一拟议的努力过程中，本科生和研究生将接受应用科学、技术翻译、产品开发和创业方面的培训。这项工作还将管理一个针对K-12学生的动手技术讲习班，重点是妇女和代表性不足的少数民族，探讨先进的水处理和创业精神。这些合作伙伴包括一家市政污水处理厂、一家市政饮用水处理厂、一家半导体制造公司、两家实际设计饮用水和污水处理厂的工程咨询公司，以及国家卫生基金会。 通过这种方式，城市饮用水和废水，工业废水和先进的水测试设施将提供给本项目，支持在相关测试环境中进行试点，并根据从研究发现到商业现实的技术转化工作中的公认标准评估处理效果。

This PFI: AIR Technology Translation project focuses on translating research on plasma interaction with liquid water for the purpose of water purification. This approach to water purification will address the need for technologies with the capability of removing toxic chemicals such as pharmaceuticals, chemical waste products, and pesticides that can not be effectively removed using conventional means.  This high throughput water purifier is important because it has the potential to remove most organic contaminants from water as well as to disinfect the water of harmful viruses and bacteria. The technology can be used in water reuse applications where wastewater can be treated with this plasma method to reduce contaminant levels well below maximum allowable concentrations so that it can be utilized for both potable (drinking) and non-potable applications (such as boiler water, car washing and firefighting). This capability makes communities resilient against drought and even chemical spills. The technology also has the potential to reduce industrial costs and associated environmental damage by treating highly toxic wastewater to the point where it can be reused at the factory.  This project will result in a prototype high throughput plasma purifier and will test the plasma purifier at actual municipal and industrial wastewater plants to demonstrate function and scalability in a real setting. The high throughput plasma purifier has the following unique features: 1) scalability, 2) it does not require consumables to operate, and 3) it drives a multitude of chemical processes in water that rapidly reduce contaminants to carbon dioxide and water. These features provide the advantages of performance, e.g. rapid decomposition of contaminants and cost savings, does not require consumables such as toxic chlorine or peroxide, offers high electrical and chemical conversion efficiency, and provides ease of implementation ranging from point-of-use applications to integration as modules into an actual water treatment plant.  Conventional advanced oxidation methods supporting water treatment applications require the use of toxic consumables to drive specialized reactions to generate oxidants as well as the infrastructure to house and apply the chemicals. The high throughput purifier produces plasma for water treatment using regular air thereby eliminating the need for costly consumables and the associated expense of infrastructure to store and apply such chemicals. This project addresses the technology gap of scalability as it translates from research discovery toward commercial application. Though plasma-based water treatment has been investigated in the past, with impressive decomposition efficiencies, its widespread application has remained elusive. This is due largely to the difficulty in scaling up beyond laboratory demonstration of 10s of ml in fixed volumes to the 10s of liters/min in once-through, flowing water applications. The key innovation of this reactor is the geometrical deconstruction of water into a form such that plasma coverage of water flowing through the reactor is maximized. The surface plasma reacts with the water generating radicals that subsequently treat the core water. In the course of executing this proposed effort, undergraduate and graduate students will be trained in applied science, technology translation, product development, and entrepreneurship. This effort will also administer a hands-on technical workshop aimed at K-12 students with focus on women and under-represented minorities that explores advanced water treatment and entrepreneurship.The project engages a number of key partners. These partners include the a municipal waste water plant, a municipal drinking water plant, a semiconductor manufacturing company, and two engineering consultancies that actually design drinking and waste water plants, and the National Sanitation Foundation. In this manner, municipal drinking water and wastewater, industrial wastewater, and advanced water testing facilities will be made available to this project supporting piloting in a relevant test environment and assessing the effectiveness of treatment based on accepted standards in this technology translation effort from research discovery toward commercial reality.