I-Corps: Novel Catalytic Ozonation Processes for Advanced Water and Wastewater Treatment

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发等离子体增强催化臭氧化创新，以提供一个具有成本效益的解决方案，以应对与水源水中不断增加的难降解有机污染物相关的水质挑战。光辅助催化臭氧化过程的系统适应性可以使其成为一种具有竞争力的处理技术，可以适应当前可用的集中式基础设施和新兴的分布式/再利用设施。因此，成功的商业化努力将有助于解决一个重大的社会挑战：在人口迅速增长、淡水资源短缺、气候变化、水源受损的压力下，对清洁水的需求日益增加，和老化的基础设施。这我-Corps项目是基于开发一种新型的等离子体金属催化剂介导的催化臭氧化工艺来去除柠檬酸类有机物水的污染物。在合成溶液和真实的环境沃茨中，均实现了代表性污染物的有效降解，且能耗低，副产物生成少。等离子体增强催化臭氧氧化技术具有上级处理性能好、原料成本低、合成方法成熟、易于回收利用等优点，具有巨大的商业化潜力。据估计，到2050年，美国本土三分之一的县将面临水资源短缺的高风险，预计到2029年，水和废水处理技术的市场价值将达到1287.8亿美元。水环境中含有数千种有机化学物质，这些化学物质通常无法通过传统的水和废水处理有效去除，是一个关键的水质问题。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 impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of plasmon-enhanced catalytic ozonation innovations to provide a cost-effective solution to the water quality challenge associated with increasing recalcitrant organic pollutants in the source water. The system adaptability of the photo-assisted catalytic ozonation process could make it a competitive treatment technology that can accommodate to both current available centralized infrastructure and emerging distributed/reuse facilities. Thus, a successful commercialization effort will help address a significant societal challenge: increasing demand for clean water under the stress of rapid population growth, shortage of fresh water sources, climate change, impaired water sources, and aging infrastructure.This I-Corps project is based on the development of an innovation of a novel catalytic ozonation process mediated by plasmonic metal catalysts for the removal of recalcitrant organic pollutants from water. Effective degradation of representative pollutants was achieved in both synthetic solutions and real environmental waters with low energy consumption and byproduct formation. The superior treatment performance together with the low material costs, mature and facile synthesis methods, and good recyclability of the catalysts, all demonstrates the great commercialization potential of plasmon-enhanced catalytic ozonation processes. It is estimated that one-third of all counties in the contiguous U.S. will face high risk of water shortage by 2050 and a market worth of $128.78 billion is forecast for water and wastewater treatment technologies by 2029. Contamination of aquatic environment with thousands of organic chemicals, which often cannot be effectively removed in conventional water and wastewater treatment, is a key water quality problem.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.