Novel PV-electrochemical chlorinator for off-grid water treatment

该项目将解决从家庭规模到大约500人的社区对负担得起和可靠的离网水处理解决方案的需求。大约21亿人依赖从源头受到微生物污染的水(世卫组织/儿童基金会)，而源头后污染影响到更多的人[Baintal，2014]。相关腹泻疾病占5岁以下儿童死亡的约8%(联合国儿童基金会/世卫组织，2017)。公认的改善水质的“第一步”是在有盖的水井和井眼中安装坚固可靠的水泵，以限制污染。为此，ThermoFluidics开发了“冲击泵”，惠康等公司提供了超过500万GB的冲击泵，使光伏发电、汽油或人力能够获得深层地下水。这一点最近在惠康/Innovate-GCRF与我们的肯尼亚合作伙伴FundiFix的联合项目中得到了证明，该项目将农村供水服务的平均正常运行时间从约75%提高到99%以上。利用20多家分销商和水服务提供商的网络，我们正在积极地在全球范围内推出出口产品。随着Impact泵销售的增长，该项目将使我们能够保留和发展我们的研发团队，通过改变游戏规则的水处理能力来扩大我们的产品组合。地下水经常不可用或受到污染。由于缺乏在经济上可行且不下沉的离网处理解决方案，普遍获得安全水受到阻碍。氯化是迄今为止最常见的水消毒方法。它杀灭病毒(与微滤不同)，对浑浊不敏感(与紫外线处理不同)。这是唯一一种对后处理后的污染提供残留保护的方法。然而，由于供应链问题、熟练操作员要求以及高昂的操作和维护成本，现有的解决方案往往是不可行的。我们的方法将利用廉价的光伏来释放这一GB 2-GB 30亿可寻址的出口市场机会，以避免现场需要熟练操作员或无氯化学品的成功概念验证实验。它将包括氯气生产和投加组件，根据水龙头抽出的流量自动处理水。我们的工作计划允许从14个月开始初步发布以进行生产和Beta测试，并为项目结束时的全面启动做准备。这是一份重新提交的文件，还有更多细节来回应审查者的评论。我们认为，这个项目对可持续发展目标3、6和13有很大的影响，并为英国战略伙伴国家打开了一个巨大的新出口机会，我们相信这个项目对英国纳税人来说是非常有价值的。

This project will address the need for an affordable and reliable off-grid water treatment solution from the household scale to communities of around 500 people.Approximately 2.1Bn people depend on water which is microbially contaminated at source (WHO/UNICEF), and post-source contamination affects many more \[Bainetal,2014\]. Associated diarrhoeal disease accounts for ~8% of deaths amongst under 5s (UNICEF/WHO, 2017).The recognised "first step" in improving water quality is to install robust and reliable pumps in capped wells and boreholes to limit contamination. To this end, Thermofluidics developed the "Impact Pump", with over £5M from Wellcome and others, enabling PV-electric, petrol or human power to access deep-groundwater. This was recently demonstrated in a joint Wellcome/Innovate-GCRF project with our Kenyan partner FundiFix to offer an increase in the average up-time of powered rural water services from ~75% to over 99%. Leveraging a network over 20 distributors and water service providers, we are actively rolling-out an export product worldwide.As Impact Pump sales grow, this project will enable us to retain and grow our R&D team, extending our portfolio with a game-changing water treatment capability.Groundwater is often unavailable, or contaminated. Universal access to safe water is hindered by the lack of an off-grid treatment solution that's economically viable without subsidy.Chlorination is by far the most common method of water sterilisation. It kills viruses (unlike microfiltration) and is insensitive to turbidity (unlike UV treatment). It's the only method that provides residual protection against contamination post-treatment. However, existing solutions are often unviable due to supply chain issues, skilled operator requirements and high operational and maintenance costs.Our approach will leverage cheap-PV to unlock this £2-£3Bn addressable export market opportunity, building on successful proof-of-concept experiments in a way that avoids the need for skilled-operators or free-chlorine chemicals on site. It will include chlorine production and dosing components, automatically treating water in proportion to the flow rate at which it is drawn at the tap.Our workplan allows for an initial release for productionisation and beta-trialling from month 14, and preparation for a full-launch from the end of the project. This is a re-submission, with additional detail to address reviewers' comments.Impacting substantially on SDGs 3,6&13 and opening a substantial new export opportunity to UK strategic partner countries, we believe that this project represents excellent value for the UK taxpayer.