Novel PV-electrochemical chlorinator for off-grid water treatment

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This project will address the need for an affordable and reliable off-grid water treatment solution from the household scale to communities of around 500 people.Approximately 2.1Bn people depend on water which is microbially contaminated at source (WHO/UNICEF), and post-source contamination affects many more \[Bainetal,2014\]. Associated diarrhoeal disease accounts for ~8% of deaths amongst under 5s (UNICEF/WHO, 2017).The recognised "first step" in improving water quality is to install robust and reliable pumps in capped wells and boreholes to limit contamination. To this end, Thermofluidics developed the "Impact Pump", with over £5M from Wellcome and others, enabling PV-electric, petrol or human power to access deep-groundwater. This was recently demonstrated in a joint Wellcome/Innovate-GCRF project with our Kenyan partner FundiFix to offer an increase in the average up-time of powered rural water services from ~75% to over 99%. Leveraging a network over 20 distributors and water service providers, we are actively rolling-out an export product worldwide.As Impact Pump sales grow, this project will enable us to retain and grow our R&D team, extending our portfolio with a game-changing water treatment capability.Groundwater is often unavailable, or contaminated. Universal access to safe water is hindered by the lack of an off-grid treatment solution that's economically viable without subsidy.Chlorination is by far the most common method of water sterilisation. It kills viruses (unlike microfiltration) and is insensitive to turbidity (unlike UV treatment). It's the only method that provides residual protection against contamination post-treatment. However, existing solutions are often unviable due to supply chain issues, skilled operator requirements and high operational and maintenance costs.Our approach will leverage cheap-PV to unlock this £2-£3Bn addressable export market opportunity, building on successful proof-of-concept experiments in a way that avoids the need for skilled-operators or free-chlorine chemicals on site. It will include chlorine production and dosing components, automatically treating water in proportion to the flow rate at which it is drawn at the tap.Our workplan allows for an initial release for productionisation and beta-trialling from month 14, and preparation for a full-launch from the end of the project. This is a re-submission, with additional detail to address reviewers' comments.Impacting substantially on SDGs 3,6&13 and opening a substantial new export opportunity to UK strategic partner countries, we believe that this project represents excellent value for the UK taxpayer.