STTR Phase I: Development of New Technology that addresses Membrane Fouling Challenges in Membrane Based Water Treatment Systems

这个小企业技术转让研究第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是有可能大大提高效率和降低处理受损水的成本，以满足饮用水质量标准。膜基水处理系统是解决世界各地发达国家和发展中国家当前和未来水危机的最前沿。现代膜系统利用了过去二十年来材料科学和水处理技术的巨大进步，但在生产率和能源使用方面，它们仍然非常低效。拟议的研究将推进的创新通过大幅减少膜污染来解决这一挑战，这是这些低效率的根源。这项创新的主要应用将是这项研究的重点，是盐水和海水的淡化。虽然这项创新并不直接从水中去除盐分，但它将大大提高反渗透过程的脱盐性能。鉴于海水淡化市场在未来几十年的巨大预期增长，新工艺的商业潜力是突出的。在这个第一阶段项目的技术目标是展示和优化一种创新的预处理工艺的性能，从自然沃茨中去除污染物，导致膜污染在海水淡化操作。新工艺结合了在多孔载体表面上沉积一薄层加热的氧化铝颗粒和原水通过这些颗粒和载体的过程。颗粒从水中除去很大一部分膜污垢，使得当随后通过反渗透进行脱盐时，反渗透系统可以在比目前可能的更高通量下操作更长时间和更低压力下操作。最终，预沉积的颗粒变得饱和，必须用新鲜的颗粒替换。从载体表面有效去除颗粒以及均匀可靠地施加新的颗粒层是研究中将要解决的主要挑战。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer Research Phase I project is the potential to dramatically increase the efficiency and lower the cost of treating impaired water to meet drinking water quality criteria. Membrane-based water treatment systems are at the forefront of the effort to address the current and future water crisis facing both developed and developing societies the world over. Modern membrane systems take advantage of tremendous advances in materials science and water treatment technology over the past two decades, and yet they still function very inefficiently with respect to their productivity and energy usage. The innovation that the proposed research will advance addresses this challenge by dramatically reducing membrane fouling, which lies at the root of these inefficiencies. The primary application of the innovation that will be the focus of this research is desalination of brines and seawater. Although the innovation does not remove salt from water directly, it will greatly enhance the performance of desalination by reverse osmosis processes. Given the enormous anticipated growth in the seawater desalination market in coming decades, the commercial potential for the new process is outstanding.The technical objectives in this Phase I project are to demonstrate and optimize the performance of an innovative pre-treatment process that removes from natural waters the contaminants that cause membrane fouling during desalination operations. The new process combines the deposition of a thin layer of heated aluminum oxide particles on a porous support surface and the passage of the raw water through those particles and the support. The particles remove a very large portion of the membrane foulants from the water, so that when it is subsequently desalinated by reverse osmosis, the reverse osmosis system can be operated at higher fluxes for longer times and at lower pressures than is currently possible. Eventually, the pre-deposited particles become saturated and must be replaced with fresh ones. The efficient removal of the particles from the support surface and the uniform and reliable application of a new layer of particles represent major challenges that will be addressed in the research.