Photochemical and ion exchange processes for optimized water reuse strategies

水源是我们文明赖以生存的关键。随着人口增长、城市化和气候变化继续影响自然水资源，公共水供应正变得紧张和受损，有必要制定新的战略来满足未来的水需求。废水再利用是一种新兴的战略，在这种战略中，社区的废水被回收并用于各种应用，包括饮用水来源。考虑到丰富的废水资源，有计划的再利用最近在世界上一些地区引起了兴趣。然而，再利用应用，特别是饮用水再利用，需要高级处理过程，因为废水由一系列污染物组成，必须去除这些污染物才能再利用，或者当处理后的水要排放到环境敏感地区时。特别令人关注的是有机和无机微污染物的残留水平，它们对环境和健康的影响才刚刚实现。一个例子包括全氟烷基物质和多氟烷基物质(PFAS)，它们来自食品容器、不粘锅和灭火泡沫，在美国和加拿大根据不同的指导方针受到立即行动的管制。我的研究计划的长期目标是通过开发和实施先进的、强大的、操作简单的处理技术，继续解决与水质相关的根本挑战。在短期内，该计划旨在研究、开发和优化能够有效去除受损或回收水中的PFASs等新出现的微污染物的工艺，用于重复使用。更具体地说，该计划将重点扩展我们实验室开展的开创性工作，以进一步开发离子交换(IEX)以及使用新兴紫外线源(例如真空UV和微等离子体UV)的光化学辅助高级氧化/还原工艺，以有效降解目标微污染物。这项研究的目标将通过使用实验室规模的IEX和UV反应堆进行广泛的实验室实验以及建模和理论分析来实现。结果将在实际运行条件下的中试规模设置中得到进一步验证。试点研究将与当地公用事业公司和我们长期合作的几个工业伙伴合作进行。通过密切参与研究，业界将抢占先机，掌握通过我们团队开展的工作获得的知识。此外，研究生和本科生通过参与这项变革性的研究，将获得应对新出现的水质和处理挑战、保护环境和人类健康以及在对水资源可持续性至关重要的新兴领域发挥领导作用所必需的知识和技能。

Water sources are the key to existence of our civilization. As population growth, urbanization, and climate change continue to impact natural water resources, public water supplies are becoming stressed and impaired, necessitating the development of new strategies to meet future water demands. Wastewater reuse is one emerging strategy where the community's wastewater is recycled and used for various applications, including a source of drinking water. Considering the vast abundance of wastewater resources, planned reuse has recently gained interest in some parts of the world. However, reuse applications, especially potable reuse, require advanced treatment processes since the wastewater consists of a range of contaminants that must be removed for reuse applications or when the treated water is to be discharged to environmentally sensitive areas. Of particular concern are residual levels of organic and inorganic micropollutants, whose environmental and health impacts are just being realized. An example includes per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) which originate from food containers, non-stick pans, and firefighting foams, and are regulated with immediate action under different guidelines in the United States and in Canada. The long term goal of my research program is to continue addressing the fundamental challenges associated with water quality, through the development and implementation of advanced, robust, and simple to operate treatment technologies. In the short term, this program aims to research, develop and optimize processes capable of effectively removing emerging micropollutants such as PFASs from impaired or recycled water, intended for reuse applications. More specifically, this program will focus on extending the pioneering work conducted in our laboratory towards further developing ion exchange (IEX) as well as photochemically assisted advanced oxidation / reduction processes using emerging sources of UV (e.g., Vacuum UV and Microplasma UV) for effective degradation of the target micropollutants. The objectives of this research will be achieved through extensive laboratory experiments conducted using bench scale IEX and UV reactors, along with modeling and theoretical analyses. The results will be further validated in pilot scale setups under real world operating conditions. Pilot studies will be carried out in collaboration with local utilities and several industrial partners with whom we have had long collaboration. By being involved closely in the research, the industry will have a head start on the knowledge gained through the work conducted by our team. Besides, graduate and undergraduate students, through involvement in this transformative research, will gain the knowledge and skills essential to addressing emerging water quality and treatment challenges and to protecting the environment and human health, as well as leading in an emerging area of critical importance for the sustainability of water resources.