Towards Smart, Resilient & Robust Renewable Powered Water Treatment Systems for Remote Communities

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

My research program aims to advance the design of smart, resilient and robust renewable powered water treatment systems for remote and resource-constrained communities. The long-term scientific objective of this proposed research program is to develop a fundamental understanding of scaling and fouling mechanisms in and on polymer-based membranes during intermittent operation which is common of renewable powered systems. This basic knowledge is necessary to support the engineering of smart, resilient and robust water treatment technologies, be they intermittently or continuously operated. Beginning with a focus on improving drinking water systems safety, reliability, and sustainability by developing more efficient methods for their design and operation, the research program has the following three short-term objectives: 1.To characterize membrane fouling in-situ and develop a predictive maintenance algorithm using machine learning 2.To understand the fouling mechanisms by scaling and organics, alone and their interactions for intermittently operated renewable powered water treatment systems to develop tools for predicting and minimizing membrane fouling. 3.To develop a new design algorithm for smart, resilient and robust renewable powered water treatment systems considering membrane fouling and predictive maintenance to minimize membrane fouling Accomplishing these objectives will culminate in significant contributions to knowledge regarding the understanding of membrane fouling mechanisms during intermittent operation, control of membrane fouling using predictive maintenance by relying on machine learning algorithms, and development of a new design method. This will represent a crucial step forward toward the engineering of smart, resilient and robust renewable powered water treatment systems to meet the needs of remote communities. The innovative smart, resilient and robust renewable powered systems will be applicable both for remote communities and for quick deployment in disaster relief. Partnerships developed with Indigenous communities will be long-term, collaborative and will focus on building local capacity for community ownership and operation of the system. As well, these partnerships with Indigenous communities will focus on incorporating Indigenous Ways of Knowing into the design process and contribute to the literature on responding to the calls to action in the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada and approaches to sustainable community capacity building. New methods will also be developed for the smart and optimal control of reliable water treatment systems. As well, machine learning methods, artificial intelligence and big data analytics will be applied in this research program. The optimization and design methods will also be applicable to other engineering applications, such as resilient infrastructure under climate change and smart manufacturing.