ZAP2TAP Solar sterilisation technology for clean safe water

阳光和清洁的水对地球上的人类生活是必不可少的。由于水源水质差和缺乏适当的水处理，大约10亿人面临着不安全的饮用水和食品制备，这个问题预计在未来几十年里会变得更加严重，因为全球都在缺水，即使在目前被认为水资源丰富的地区也是如此。该项目旨在建造和测试概念验证ZAP2TAP水灭菌设备，该设备仅使用可见光，而不是紫外线或电，以实现对水传播病原体的高杀灭率。在项目期间，将测定水中大肠杆菌的杀灭率。这项技术使用固定在固相纳米材料载体上的光敏剂分子，在流动的水中创造持续的活性氧供应。短命的单线态氧与被病原体污染的水混合。单线态氧对病原体的作用是降解或打开包裹在病原体周围的保护性双层膜，杀死病原体，使其无害。目前在静止水中对这种新材料进行的测试表明，在模拟太阳的光线下，活的病原体数量减少了10亿倍。ZAP2TAP设备将由可回收材料制造，它们将是柔性的，重量轻，并使用许多食品包装行业使用的工艺和工具来制造它们。这项技术将通过改善人们获得清洁、安全的饮用水和食品制备的机会来影响社会。-提高食品制造商达到世界卫生组织食品制备水质标准的能力，从而改善健康和福祉。-减少与不安全饮用水有关的水媒病原体引起的疾病，导致平均NO含量增加。-通过允许对收集的雨水、水源水和灰水进行直接太阳能消毒，帮助确保向消费者提供饮用水。-减少对化学品对水消毒的依赖。这项技术将通过以下方式影响环境：-改善个人、家庭和工业规模的水管理-通过减少抽取和抽水的水量减少碳足迹和自来水公司的能源消耗，包括减少对新设施和管道网络的需求，从而减少对环境和维持的生态系统的影响。-消除水消毒化学品的使用及其相关危险。-实现水的再利用，然后将雨水从联合下水道网络中分流。这对水务公司和社区有很大的好处，减少了污染事件和减少了地表水泛滥。-帮助建筑师满足碳排放法规，以增加在新住宅中可持续地实施雨水收集。这项技术将通过创造一种满足国内和国际市场需求的高价值产品来造福经济。-创造和保持高价值的制造业就业机会。-将大量生产纳米纤维材料引入供应链，用于在英国生产其他高价值创新产品。

Sunlight and clean water are essential for human life on earth. Approximately one billion people are exposed to unsafe water for drinking and food preparation due to poor source water quality and lack of adequate water treatment, a problem expected to grow worse in the coming decades, with water scarcity occurring globally, even in regions currently considered water rich. This project aims to build & test Proof-of-Concept ZAP2TAP water sterilisation devices that use only visible light, not ultraviolet or electricity, to achieve a high kill rate for water borne pathogens. During the project the kill rate for Escherishia Coli in water will be determine. The technology uses photosensitizer molecules tethered to solid phase nanomaterials supports to create a continuous supply of reactive oxygen in flowing water. The short lived singlet oxygen is mixed with water which is contaminated with pathogens. The effect of singlet oxygen on the pathogen is to degrade or break open the protective bilayer membranes which surrounds the pathogen and kills the pathogen leaving it harmless. Current tests of the novel materials in stationary water have produce a billion times reduction in the number of living pathogens when exposed to a light which simulates the sun.The ZAP2TAP devices will be built from recycleable materials, they will be flexible, light weight and use many of the processes and tools used in the food packaging industry for their manufacture. The technology will impact society by - Improving people's access to clean safe water for drinking and food preparation. - Improving food manufacturers ability to meet the World Health Organisation's water quality standards for food preparation, thus improving health and wellbeing. - Reducing illness arising from the water borne pathogens associated with unsafe drinking water, leading to a increase in the average no. of days worked and impact economic development and recovery.- Helping to secure the supply of drinking water to consumers by allowing direct solar sterilisation of harvested rainwater, source water and greywater. - Reducing the dependence of chemicals to sterilise water. The technology will impact the environment by - Improving water management at personal, domestic and industrial scales- Reduced carbon footprint & energy consumption by water utilities by reducing the volume of water extracted & pumped, including a reduced demand for new installations & pipe networks, leading to reduced impact on the Environment and maintained ecosystems.- Remove the use of water sterilisation chemicals and their associated hazards.- Enabling water re-use, which then diverts rainfall from the combined sewer network. This has significant benefits for water utilities and the community with fewer pollution incidents and reduced surface water flooding.- Helping architects meet carbon emission regulations to increase sustainable implementation of rainwater harvesting in new homes. The technology will benefit the ecomomy by - Creating a high value product which meets the demands of both home and international markets. - Creating and maintaining high value manufacturing jobs.- Introducing high volume production of nanofibre material into the supply chain for the production of other high value innovative products in the UK.