Photochemical and ion exchange processes for optimized water reuse strategies

水源是人类文明赖以生存的关键。随着人口增长、城市化和气候变化对自然水资源的持续影响，公共供水正变得紧张和受损，有必要制定新的战略来满足未来的水需求。废水再利用是一种新兴的战略，将社区的废水循环利用并用于各种用途，包括作为饮用水的来源。考虑到废水资源的巨大丰富性，有计划的再利用最近在世界一些地区引起了人们的兴趣。然而，再利用应用，特别是饮用水再利用，需要高级处理过程，因为废水由一系列污染物组成，必须去除这些污染物才能再利用，或者当处理后的水排放到环境敏感地区时。特别令人关切的是有机和无机微污染物的残留水平，它们对环境和健康的影响才刚刚认识到。一个例子包括来自食品容器、不粘锅和消防泡沫的全氟烷基和多氟烷基物质（PFASs），它们在美国和加拿大根据不同的指导方针受到立即采取行动的管制。我的研究计划的长期目标是通过开发和实施先进的、强大的、操作简单的处理技术，继续解决与水质相关的基本挑战。在短期内，该项目旨在研究、开发和优化能够有效去除新出现的微污染物（如PFASs）的工艺，这些微污染物来自受损或再循环的水中，用于重复利用。更具体地说，该项目将重点扩展我们实验室开展的开创性工作，进一步发展离子交换（IEX），以及光化学辅助的高级氧化/还原过程，利用新兴的紫外线来源（如真空紫外线和微等离子紫外线）有效降解目标微污染物。本研究的目标将通过使用实验规模的IEX和UV反应器进行广泛的实验室实验，以及建模和理论分析来实现。结果将在实际操作条件下的中试规模装置中进一步验证。试点研究将与当地公用事业公司和我们长期合作的几个工业伙伴合作进行。通过密切参与研究，行业将在我们团队的工作中获得的知识上有一个良好的开端。此外，研究生和本科生通过参与这一变革性研究，将获得应对新出现的水质和处理挑战、保护环境和人类健康以及在对水资源可持续性至关重要的新兴领域发挥领导作用所必需的知识和技能。

Water sources are the key to existence of our civilization. As population growth, urbanization, and climate change continue to impact natural water resources, public water supplies are becoming stressed and impaired, necessitating the development of new strategies to meet future water demands. Wastewater reuse is one emerging strategy where the community's wastewater is recycled and used for various applications, including a source of drinking water. Considering the vast abundance of wastewater resources, planned reuse has recently gained interest in some parts of the world. However, reuse applications, especially potable reuse, require advanced treatment processes since the wastewater consists of a range of contaminants that must be removed for reuse applications or when the treated water is to be discharged to environmentally sensitive areas. Of particular concern are residual levels of organic and inorganic micropollutants, whose environmental and health impacts are just being realized. An example includes per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) which originate from food containers, non-stick pans, and firefighting foams, and are regulated with immediate action under different guidelines in the United States and in Canada. The long term goal of my research program is to continue addressing the fundamental challenges associated with water quality, through the development and implementation of advanced, robust, and simple to operate treatment technologies. In the short term, this program aims to research, develop and optimize processes capable of effectively removing emerging micropollutants such as PFASs from impaired or recycled water, intended for reuse applications. More specifically, this program will focus on extending the pioneering work conducted in our laboratory towards further developing ion exchange (IEX) as well as photochemically assisted advanced oxidation / reduction processes using emerging sources of UV (e.g., Vacuum UV and Microplasma UV) for effective degradation of the target micropollutants. The objectives of this research will be achieved through extensive laboratory experiments conducted using bench scale IEX and UV reactors, along with modeling and theoretical analyses. The results will be further validated in pilot scale setups under real world operating conditions. Pilot studies will be carried out in collaboration with local utilities and several industrial partners with whom we have had long collaboration. By being involved closely in the research, the industry will have a head start on the knowledge gained through the work conducted by our team. Besides, graduate and undergraduate students, through involvement in this transformative research, will gain the knowledge and skills essential to addressing emerging water quality and treatment challenges and to protecting the environment and human health, as well as leading in an emerging area of critical importance for the sustainability of water resources.