SBIR Phase I: Scaling and Tailoring the Destruction of Emerging Contaminants with the Plasma Water Reactor

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响是促进水资源公平和保护美国的水供应。污染物在空气、食物和水中持续存在。目前的技术要么产生危险废物，要么效率低下，因此，有一种强烈的公共卫生动机，即积极主动地销毁普遍存在的污染物，并将废物流转化为价值流。等离子体可以将污染物转化为无害的基本化合物，但以前的等离子体净水器无法扩展。该项目探讨了定制和规模化等离子体水处理的可行性。由此产生的平台技术为遭受污染水供应的机构和个人提供了即时救济。由于生产再生水、消除废物、减少碳足迹和能源使用，它将对环境产生越来越积极的影响。它还将促进资源回收、公共卫生、水-能源-粮食关系的可持续性以及社会经济弱势社区的水公平。SBIR第一阶段项目操纵几何形状和功率，以实现有效，高效，定制和规模化的等离子体水处理。该项目使用紧密堆积的水流来放大等离子体传播。这种几何方法最大限度地减少了能源消耗，并最大限度地提高了等离子体-水界面，使以前无法达到的商业流速。本项目将调查用于饮用水再利用的先进水处理机组中相关污染物的等离子体销毁。由于其毒性、持久性、普遍性和相关性，1，4-二氧六环、N-亚硝基二甲胺和全氟烷基/多氟烷基物质将被用作指示化合物，以探测各种水质并达到以下目标：污染物减少1+ log，浓度低于最大污染物水平或健康建议限值，实际流速为每分钟0.5加仑，可实现1，4-二氧六环减少0.5个对数。动力学和替代参数进行了评估，在反渗透和浓缩，颗粒活性炭流出物，阴离子交换流出物和再生剂。对于每个水基质，等离子体性能建模为水质和能耗的函数，并将运行成本与已建立的水再利用工艺进行比较。这些新颖的实验将推进定制和规模化等离子体水处理的技术和财务可行性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impacts of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project are the promotion of water equity and the protection of U.S. water supplies. Pollutants persist in air, food, and water. Current technologies either produce hazardous waste or are ineffective, and therefore there is a strong public health motivation to proactively destroy prevalent pollutants and convert waste streams into value streams. Plasmas can convert contaminants into harmless fundamental compounds, but previous plasma-based water purifiers could not scale. This project explores the feasibility of custom and scaled plasma-based water treatment. The resulting platform technology provides immediate relief to institutions and individuals suffering from contaminated water supplies. It will yield an increasingly positive impact on the environment due to the production of reclaimed water, the elimination of waste, and the reduction of carbon footprint and energy use. It will also promote resource recovery, public health, sustainability within the water-energy-food nexus, and water equity for socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. This SBIR Phase I project manipulates geometry and power to achieve effective, efficient, customized, and scaled plasma-based water treatment. This project uses close-packed water streams to amplify plasma propagation. This geometric approach minimizes energy consumption and maximizes the plasma-water interface, enabling previously inaccessible commercial flow rates. This project will investigate plasma-based destruction of relevant pollutants in advanced water treatment trains used for potable reuse. Due to their toxicity, persistence, prevalence, and relevance, 1,4-dioxane, N-nitrosodimethylamine, and per-/polyfluoroalkyl substances will be used as indicator compounds to probe various water qualities and meet the following goals: 1+ log reduction of contaminants, concentrations below maximum contaminant levels or health advisory limits, and a practical flow rate of 0.5 gallons per minute that fulfills 0.5-log reduction of 1,4-dioxane. Kinetics and surrogate parameters are evaluated in reverse osmosis permeate and concentrate, granular activated carbon effluent, and anion exchange effluent and regenerant. For each water matrix, plasma performance is modeled as a function of water quality and energy consumption and operational costs are compared to established water reuse processes. These novel experiments will advance the technical and financial feasibility of customized and scaled plasma-based water treatment.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.