L2M NSERC - Novel Photocatalytic Adsorbents for Wastewater Treatment

洁净水的重要性怎么强调都不为过。据估计，在全球范围内，超过80%的废水未经适当处理就排放到环境中。这减少了全球清洁水的可用性，并以不可持续的速度耗尽了我们所依赖的水源。我们的团队已经着手通过设计、开发和集成一种新型材料技术解决方案来应对这一挑战，其重点任务是弥合废水现状与满足废水要求的能力之间的差距。我们的产品是一系列新颖的，可重复使用的，阳光活化的，光催化的，介孔二氧化硅吸附剂，旨在处理各种废水处理应用中的难以降解的有机污染物，重金属和挥发性排放物，包括采矿工艺水解毒，农业径流水处理和工业废水处理。我们的专利材料技术原型的核心是工程设计和制造介孔颗粒结构，并在其上掺杂光催化剂，以加速暴露于污染物体时的表面吸附和光催化活性。我们的概念验证研究结果为我们的技术奠定了科学基础，显示出在紫外线照射下，晶体紫（一种有机化合物）在水溶液中的有效吸附和降解，以及我们的技术作为一种独特的浮动光催化剂的潜力。将这种基于研究的创新商业化需要深科技创业精神，进一步完善我们的目标市场，进行广泛的初级市场研究，并建立关于我们的客户、利益相关者和产品/服务最终用户的知识。拟议的项目有助于促进从实验室环境中的功能验证（技术准备程度4级）到相关工业环境中的验证（技术准备程度5级）的过渡。

The importance of clean water cannot be overemphasized. Globally, it is estimated that over 80% of wastewater is released to the environment without adequate treatment. This reduces global availability of clean water and depletes the water sources we rely on at an unsustainable pace. Our team has embarked on tackling this challenge through the design, development, and integration of a novel material technology solution with a focused mission to bridge the gap between the current state of effluents and the ability to meet effluent requirements. Our product is a range of novel, reusable, sunlight-activated, photocatalytic, mesoporous silica adsorbents designed to treat hard-to-degrade organic contaminants, heavy metals, and volatile emissions in a variety of wastewater treatment applications, including mining process water detoxification, agricultural run-off water treatment, and industrial effluent water treatment. The core of our patented material technology prototype is the engineered design and manufacturing of a mesoporous particle structure and doping it with a photocatalyst to accelerate surface adsorption and photocatalytic activities when exposed to pollutant bodies. Results from our proof-of-concept study establish the scientific basis of our technology, showing effective adsorption and degradation of crystal violet (an organic compound) in aqueous solution during UV irradiation as well as our technology's potential as a unique floating photocatalyst. Commercializing this research-based innovation requires deep-tech entrepreneurship, further refining our target market, conducting extensive primary market research, and building knowledge about our customers, stakeholders, and product/service end-users. The proposed project serves to facilitate the transition from functional verification in a laboratory environment (Technology Readiness Level 4) to verification in relevant industrial environments (Technology Readiness Level 5).