I-Corps: Nitrate Elimination from Water and Filtration Systems

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to provide a filter to businesses, government agencies, and individuals to eliminate nitrate from water. Nitrate in drinking water has significant impacts on society because it causes serious human health problems. It also promotes the growth of algae in rivers, lakes, and coastal areas, which interferes with tourism, recreation as well as other commercial uses of these areas. The two principal sources of nitrate entering water supplies are the runoff of nitrate fertilizers from agricultural fields and the discharge from municipal and industrial waste-water treatment plants. Intercepting these waters and eliminating the nitrate from them before it enters the environment constitutes a major segment of the potential for commercialization of the technology. Drinking water treatment plants are a potential commercial user, as are homeowners with water purification systems.This I-Corps project will explore the potential commercialization of a filter to eliminate nitrate from water. It consists of a bed of sand grains coated with an iron-bearing clay mineral. Before coating, the clay is engineered to react with nitrate. Once coated, the sand/clay mineral attracts and reacts with nitrate in the flowing water, changing it to harmless nitrogen gas or ammonium. Iron in the clay is the key for changing the nitrate. The intellectual merit of the project is that three independent research findings were combined to make the filter. These include processes to reverse the charge on the clay surfaces, changing the iron charge to react with nitrate, and finally engineering a system with suitable flow characteristics.