Process for Removal of Microcontaminants from Municipal Water

描述(由申请人提供)：已发现供应给至少4100万美国人的饮用水中存在药品和非处方药。人们对摄入抗生素、抗惊厥药物、情绪稳定剂、性激素和其他药物的长期健康影响感到担忧。生活在雌激素含量低至万亿分之五的市政水中的鱼的性别反转是有记录的影响的更令人震惊的例子之一。瑟曼等人的一项研究表明，选择有机废水污染物的低水平环境暴露可能会产生微妙的慢性影响。其他由美国环保署资助的研究评估了药品和防腐剂对饮用水的影响。尽管目前还不存在去除这种新检测到的污染物家族的监管任务，但这种监管的动力已经存在。这些有机物(微污染物)含量低(低于百万分之几)的(市政)供水受到污染，既存在监测问题，也存在补救问题。这项拟议的小型企业创新研究(SBIR第一阶段)旨在通过展示利用吸附(用于预浓缩水污染物)和羟基自由基攻击来去除浓度低至十亿分之几的上述杂质的工艺技术的概念证明，来解决如此有效的水的修复。该方法将采用吸附、电化学过氧化氢生成、电解羟基自由基生成和催化氧化单元操作集成到一个紧凑的设备中。实现的净效果是在环境温度下使用大气中的氧气来销毁污染物。与现有的先进氧化工艺相比，Eltron的方法提供了能量和经济上的优势，包括阳极氧化和光催化工艺。微污染物的低浓度对成功的修复构成了动力学障碍；这既是因为由于反应物相互作用的频率较低，预计转化率较低，也是因为与优势溶剂的竞争(从而排除了来自吸附剂、催化剂或电催化剂表面的污染物)。因此，预先集中似乎是任何补救或监测方法取得成功的关键。第一阶段将主要研究Eltron公司的吸附剂在微污染物水溶液预浓缩中的应用，以及催化吸附剂在接触到靠近吸附剂的电解槽阴极产生的羟基自由基时，随后破坏分子物种的能力。第二阶段将涉及去除饮用水中微污染物的原型系统的设计、制造和测试。 与公众健康相关：供水受到激素、药品等有机污染物含量较低的污染对公众健康的影响尚不清楚。药品和个人护理产品(PPCPs)消费量的增加、检测较低水平PPCPs的新技术、对摄入PPCPs的后果(即使是微量的)和混合PPCPs的后果的了解不断增加，以及采取立法行动保护公众免受其危害的必要性，这些都为确定减轻饮用水中这些物质浓度并减少其后续影响的方法提供了更多的理由。这项拟议的技术有可能解决各种这些问题，因为它能够摧毁各种PPCP，并对来自各种病原体的水进行消毒。消除这些污染物带来了挑战，如果要提出解决方案，就必须立即解决这些挑战。开发的工艺、反应堆和系统技术将用于市政和其他供水的抛光。这一做法将对市政当局和水处理行业的公司具有吸引力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): It has been found that pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter medicines are present in drinking water supplied to at least 41 million Americans. Concern exists over the long-term health effects that will result from ingesting antibiotics, anticonvulsants, mood stabilizers, sex hormones and other drugs. Gender-reversal of fish living in municipal water containing as low as five parts per trillion of estradiol is one of the more shocking examples of documented effects. A study by Thurman et al.,1 revealed that subtle, chronic effects from low- level environmental exposure to select organic wastewater contaminants may be of concern. Other, EPA funded, studies have assessed the impact of pharmaceuticals and antiseptics on drinking water. Although regulatory mandates for removing this newly detected family of pollutants do not yet exist, the impetus for such regulation already exists. Contamination of (municipal) water supplies with low (sub-ppm) levels of these organics (micro- contaminants) presents both monitoring and remediation problems. This proposed Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR Phase I) addresses remediation of water so effected by demonstrating proof of concept of a process technology utilizing adsorption (for pre-concentration of water contaminants) and attack by hydroxyl radicals for removing the aforementioned impurities with concentrations ranging down to the parts-per-billion level. The approach will employ adsorption, electrochemical hydrogen peroxide generation, electrolytic hydroxyl radical generation, and catalytic oxidation unit operations integrated into a compact device. The net effect achieved is the destruction of contaminants using atmospheric oxygen at ambient temperature. Eltron's approach offers energetic and economic advantages over existing advanced oxidation processes, including anodic and oxidation and photocatalytic processes. The low concentrations of microcontaminants pose kinetic hindrances to successful remediation; both because of expected low conversion rate due to low frequency of interaction of reactants and due to competition with the preponderant solvent (and resulting exclusion of contaminant from adsorbent, catalyst, or electrocatalyst surface). Therefore, pre-concentration appears to be essential for any remediation or monitoring approach to succeed. Phase I will primarily investigate application of Eltron's adsorbents for pre-concentration of aqueous solutions of microcontaminants and the ability of the catalytic adsorbents to subsequently destroy molecular species when exposed to hydroxyl radicals generated at the cathode of an electrolytic cell in close proximity to the adsorbent. Phase II will address the design, fabrication, and testing of a prototype system for removal of microcontaminants from drinking water. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The impact on public health caused by contamination of water supplies with low levels of organic contaminants such as hormones, pharmaceuticals, etc. is unknown. Increased consumption of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs), new technologies for detecting lower levels of them, increasing knowledge about the consequences of ingesting PPCPs (even at trace levels) and the consequences of mixing PPCPs, as well as the need for legislative action to protect the public from them, have provided all the more reason to identify methods for mitigating concentrations of these in drinking water and reducing their consequent effects. The proposed technology has the potential to address a variety of these concerns because it is able to destroy a variety of PPCPs as well as disinfect water from a variety of pathogens. Removing such contaminants offers challenges that must be addressed immediately if a solution is to be proferred. The process, reactor, and system technology developed will find use in the polishing of municipal and other water supplies. The approach will be attractive to municipalities and companies in the water treatment industry.