I-Corps: Photocatalytic Water Purification Technology for the Removal of Pollutants that are Commonly Problematic for Water Treatment Systems

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是对当前最先进的水净化能力的改进。该技术扩大了净水效果的范围，并提供了一种防止人为废物通过光催化降解进入环境的手段。水系统中有机物的去除在人类健康问题上的作用越来越大。人为水浪费对人类健康的影响程度最终取决于将这些废物从我们的供水中清除的能力。与过滤方法不同，光催化氧化能够在不需要化学添加剂的情况下破坏这些污染物。这项技术的成功商业化通过提高有机废物修复的能力来保护健康。在许多需要去除有机污染物的工业应用中，这项技术可能会产生影响。拟议的系统能够氧化水污染物，并可以摧毁水处理系统通常存在问题的污染物。这个i-Corps项目基于基础研究，展示了通过优化催化剂材料的3D几何结构和照明系统的几何形状来提高光催化水净化系统的效率和可扩展性。其结果是显著减少了能量损失，以及系统的可用性和可伸缩性总体上得到了改善。光催化剂材料本身也进行了修饰，以优化催化剂表面的电学和化学性质。二氧化钛和二氧化硅纳米粒子的注入使降解性能提高了500%以上。光催化反应器的总体效率也被考虑到由每阶电能(EEO)表征模型所定义的能量使用。在该系统中实现的最低EEO为每立方米水54千瓦时，污染物浓度每降低一个数量级-这是EEO相对于之前报道的基于薄膜的光反应堆的改进。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is an improvement in the current state-of-the-art water purification capability. The technology expands the range of water purification effectiveness and provides a means of preventing anthropogenic wastes from entering the environment through photocatalytic degradation. The removal of organic material from the water system has an ever-increasing role in the subject of human health. The degree to which anthropogenic water waste affects human health is ultimately tied to the ability to remove these wastes from our water supply. Unlike filtration methods, photocatalytic oxidation has the ability to destroy these contaminants without the need for chemical additives. Successful commercialization of this technology protects health by improving the capability for organic waste remediation. There also are many industrial applications requiring organic pollutant removal where this technology can have impact. The proposed system is capable of oxidizing water contaminants and can destroy contaminants that are commonly problematic for water treatment systems. This I-Corps project is based on fundamental research showing improved efficiency and scalability of photocatalytic water purification systems by optimizing the 3D geometry of the catalyst material in conjunction with the geometry of the illumination system. The result was a significant reduction in energy loss, as well as an overall improved usability and scalability of the system. The photocatalyst material itself also has been modified in order to optimize the electrical and chemical properties of the catalyst surface. Implantation of TiO2 and SiO2 nanoparticles resulted in increased degradation performance by more than 500%. The overall efficiency of the photocatalytic reactor also was considered with respect to energy usage as defined by the Electrical Energy per Order (EEO) characterization model. The lowest EEO achieved in this system was 54 kWh per cubic meter of water for each order of magnitude reduction in pollutant concentration - an improvement in EEO over previously reported thin-film based photoreactors.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.