Electrochemical water treatment using expanded graphite

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This project will support the development of a novel water treatment technology for agricultural and industrialwater treatment. The technology can effectively and safely disinfect water using a simple flow-throughoperation. In addition organic contaminants can be removed and destroyed by oxidation. The process useselectrical energy to drive electrochemical reactions to achieve the desired treatment objectives. This projectwill investigate the electrochemical mechanisms, providing important data for the optimization, design, andscale up of the technology. The focus of the research will be to enhance the performance of the process for thetreatment of dissolved organic contaminants, for industrial and oil sands water treatment applications. Thefindings will be used by the industry partner, informing the design of prototype and pilot scale treatment units,as they develop the technology for commercial applications in the agricultural, industrial and oil productionindustries.This technology offers an innovative and sustainable solution to problems of water conservation and high costof industrial water use because it is an extremely powerful, safe, and cost effective water treatment platform.Disinfection is conventionally achieved by chlorine addition, but this can lead to harmful disinfectionby-products that adversely effect the water quality. New technologies that can achieve disinfection with lowoperating cost and increased water quality will be of significant benefit to the agricultural and meat processingindustries. The extension of the application of the technology to the decontamination of organics in industrialwastewater and oil sands process water will enable increased water recycle, reduced operating costs and lowerenvironmental impact. Our initial research has shown the key characteristics of the reactor design that influenceoxidation performance. This project will extend the research to determine the main energy losses in thereactor, and the factors limiting the oxidation performance.