PFI:AIR - TT: Development and Commercialization of the HAOPs Water Treatment Process

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

This Accelerating Innovation Research: Technology Translation project focuses on translating a novel water treatment process from the laboratory ("proof-of-concept") stage to a stage where it can be tested at municipal water treatment plants. Both the developed and developing worlds face a critical need to produce clean, healthy water, cheaply, in the face of diminishing quantities and quality of water from current sources. One of the most promising developments in drinking water supply over the past two decades is the improvement in membrane-based treatment processes. However, these systems still operate well below their potential because the membrane pores are easily plugged (fouled). The process being developed in this project uses a new type of particle (heated aluminum oxide particles, or HAOPs) to collect contaminants and deploys the particles in an unconventional way (depositing an extremely thin layer of the particles on a support and passing the water through that layer), and thereby removes far more of the material that plugs the pores of membranes than can be removed using currently available processes. Furthermore, the process appears likely to use less energy and be less costly than current technology. The outcome of the project will be a design for a pilot-scale system that can be tested at an operating drinking water treatment plant. The technical issues requiring investigation for the new treatment process to be successful include the development of a new module containing substantial surface area onto which the HAOPs can be deposited, while still maintaining a relatively small footprint. The proposed design is a monolithic, but porous, cylinder containing multiple small, cylindrical channels penetrating the full axial length. The HAOPs layer will be deposited along the walls of these channels, so that feed water must pass through the layer and then through the porous solid before exiting. The module must capture the HAOPs efficiently at the beginning of a treatment cycle and then release them equally efficiently at the end. Both the deposition and release steps require optimal choices and careful control of the water flow patterns, and that optimization step will be a major focus of the project. In addition, the approaches for dewatering and compacting sludge from the process will be explored, and a cost-benefit analysis of the overall process will be carried out. Finally, undergraduate and graduate students, as well as a postdoctoral researcher, will receive entrepreneurship and technology translation experiences through mentorship by a partner on the research team who has co-founded three companies in the energy efficiency and water treatment sectors, and by participation in meetings with potential manufacturers of the equipment and investors in the technology.