SBIR Phase I: Regenerable Adsorbent Filter for Water Purification

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是提供一种低成本的解决方案，以更高的效率和比现有技术更优越的性能来净化水的再利用。全球水资源短缺，包括美国西南部等部分地区，迫切需要有效的技术来处理废水，以便直接或间接地饮用。目前的技术，如碳过滤器和化学氧化，从废水中去除微量有机污染物用于水再利用的效率有限，而且价格昂贵。为了解决这一未满足的需求，该项目寻求开发一种低成本、可重复使用的水净化过滤器，以去除和破坏有害的有机污染物。净化后的水不会产生二次废物或有害副产物。拟议的技术预计将被用于进行工业废水和地下水处理的实体，以及侧重于水再利用的废水公用事业。第一阶段研究项目的目标是开发这种低成本、可重复使用的水处理过滤技术。具体而言，该项目将评估和证明：(1)涉及新型覆膜砂吸附剂的新过滤介质的长期稳定性和性能；(2)过滤材料的不可生物降解性；(3)再生过程的稳健性。这项工作将证实这种新型吸附介质在多次（100次）再生循环中的稳定性。该项目还将寻求证明吸附剂对细菌攻击的稳定性，并在必要时开发防止生物降解的方法。将测试吸附剂处理工业废水、市政废水和地下水的适用性，并在需要时确定预处理步骤。该技术在某些特定有机物方面的局限性将被确定。以下微量污染物是这项技术的初始目标：17 -雌二醇（雌激素的代表）；双酚a（用于塑料）；布洛芬、丙酸盐和碘丙胺（医药）；还有阿特拉津（杀虫剂）。

The broader impact / commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is to offer a low cost solution to purify water for reuse applications with higher effectiveness and superior performance than currently available technologies. The global water scarcity, including some parts of the US such as southwest, has led to a strong need for efficient technologies to treat wastewater for direct or indirect potable reuse. Current technologies such as carbon filters and chemical oxidation, have limited efficiency and are expensive for the removal of trace organic contaminants from wastewater for water reuse. To address this unfulfilled need, this project seeks to develop a low cost, reusable filter unit for water purification to remove and destroy hazardous organic contaminants. No secondary waste products or harmful byproducts will be produced in the purified water. The proposed technology is expected to be used by entities conducting industrial wastewater and groundwater treatment, and wastewater utilities that have a focus on water reuse. The objective of this Phase I research project is to develop this low cost, reusable filter technology for water treatment. Specifically, the project will evaluate and demonstrate: (1) long term stability and performance of the new filter media involving a novel coated sand adsorbent (2) the non-biodegradability of the filter material, and (3) the robustness of the regeneration process. The work will confirm the stability of this new adsorbent media for multiple (100) regeneration cycles. The project will also seek to demonstrate the stability of the adsorbent from bacterial attacks and if necessary, develop methods to prevent biodegradation. Applicability of the adsorbent to treat industrial wastewater, municipal wastewater and groundwater will be tested, and pretreatment steps will be identified if needed. The limitation of the technology with regard to certain specific organics will be determined. The following contaminants, at trace levels, are the initial target of this technology: 17beta-estradiol (representative of estrogenic hormones); bisphenol-A (used in plastics); ibuprofen, mepbromate and iopromide (pharmaceutical); and atrazine (pesticide).