Use of nanotechnology for waste water treatment in remote communities by radioluminescence generated UV light from dispersed composite nanoparticles

Innocorps Research Corporation是萨斯卡通当地一家从事工业废水处理的公司。他们的水处理过程基于热化学过程，不包括任何紫外线处理阶段。此外，他们目前的系统不能在没有任何动力的情况下进行净化。他们希望加入一种廉价的、可以自我供电的紫外线处理，作为最终的水消毒步骤，在这一步骤中，紫外线处理将产生安全的饮用水。自行供电的紫外线治疗还意味着，这一步骤也可以安装在偏远社区，那里没有电或不可靠。当然，用紫外线(UV)光处理水是一种公认的杀菌处理方法。与现有的UV技术相关的问题有两个。首先是对电力的需求，这可能会使这项技术不能在北部、偏远或农村社区应用，也不能用于搁浅和偏远应用。第二个问题是紫外线被水强烈吸收，这就要求将强大的紫外线源紧密地放置在靠近待处理水的地方；结果是难以均匀地对水进行紫外线照射。在这个项目中，我们通过创建由内置电离辐射源提供动力的分布式紫外线发射源来解决这两个问题。我们建议以分散在多孔介质中的复合颗粒的形式来研究自发光紫外线发射纳米材料。这种材料可以包装和设计用于偏远地区水井的水处理和简单的水容器中。这种自发光纳米粒子的核心区域由钨或铋氧化物组成，可以吸收X射线。核心材料覆盖有通过X射线诱导发光显示紫外线发射的纳米颗粒，如CaF2(氟化钙)纳米晶体。我们将计算设计这样一个系统所需的参数，例如所需放射性元素的浓度和重量，通过纳米晶体的激发将能量从辐射源转化为紫外线的能量以及宿主玻璃材料中的一些能量损失，以及所需的消毒单元的总体积。因此，我们将拥有下一阶段实验工作所需的参数。

Innocorps Research Corporation is a local corporation in Saskatoon that is engages in the industrial waste water treatment. Their water treatment process is based on thermochemical processes and does not include any UV treatment stages. In addition, their present system cannot be adapted for purification without any power. They would like to incorporate a UV treatment that is inexpensive and can be self-powered as a final water disinfection step in which the UV treatment would result in safe drinking water. A self-powered UV treatment would also mean that this step can be installed in remote communities as well where there is no electricity or it is not reliable. Water treatment with ultraviolet (UV) light is, of course, an established method of germicidal treatment. There are two problems related to the existing UV technology. The first is a need for electric power, which can exclude the application of this technology in various northern, remote or rural communities as well as for stranded and remote applications. The second is the fact that UV is strongly absorbed by water which requires the tight placement of powerful UV sources close to the water to be treated; the result is the difficulty in uniform UV irradiation of water. In this project, we address both problems by the creation of distributed sources of UV emission powered by built-in internal source of ionizing radiation. We are proposing to examine self-lighting UV emitting nanomaterials in the form of composite particles dispersed in a porous medium. This material could be packaged and engineered for use in water treatment in wells in remote areas and in simple water containers. The self-lighting nanoparticle has a core region that would consist of tungsten or bismuth oxide, which absorbs x-rays. The core material is coated with nanoparticles that exhibit UV emission by X-ray induced luminescence, such as CaF2 (calcium fluoride) nanocrystals. We will calculate the necessary parameters for designing such a system, for example the concentration and weight of the radioactive element needed, the conversion of energy from the radiative source to UV by the excitation of nanocrystals and the loss of some energy in the host glass material, and the necessary total volume of disinfection unit that is needed. Consequently, we would have the necessary parameters for the experimental work in the next phase.