Developing electrodes for wastewater treatment

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Ensuring access to clean water for everyone is one of United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Despite progress, billions of people around the world do not have secure access to this resource. It is predicted that half of the world population will be living in water-stressed conditions by 2050. While Canada has abundant freshwater, our water resources are facing increasing pressures due to climate change and pollution.Recycling wastewater, such as greywater- wastewater without any contributions from toilet water- could provide a path to reduce our reliance on fresh water. Greywater represents a significant portion of household wastewater with daily production of up to several hundred liters per person. Recycling greywater not only reduces the amount of freshwater needed but also significantly lowers the burden on municipal water treatment infrastructure.In this project, we propose to develop greywater recycling systems for individual residence application. We will develop greywater recycling systems in which pollutants are removed through an advanced electrochemical oxidation process. Our approach involves an in-situ formation of strong oxidant, hydroxyl radical, that is capable of decomposing organic pollutants in greywater. We believe that this approach could be applied for the treatment of other wastewater sources. The commercialization of the greywater treatment system developed in this project is expected to create new job opportunities, including manufacturing specialists and installation/service technicians in Ontario and Canada.