Technological Innovation NEWT is leading the development of compact, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment

NEWT Engineering Research Center

• W. Shane Walker, UTEP

Two Nations One Water April 24, 2019

http://www.newtcenter.org/

Technological Innovation

NEWT is leading the development of compact, minimal-chemical, minimal-energy, and catalytic treatment systems that are easy to deploy and exploit unique nano-scale phenomena for tailored selectivity and multifunctionality to enhance treatment capacity and cost-efficiency.

Focus on Two Applications

• Off-grid rural, point-of-use,

humanitarian, emergency- response and rural drinking water treatment

• Industrial wastewater

reuse in remote sites (e.g., oil and gas fields,

• ffshore platforms)

https://www.lexvisio.com/article/2016/03/16/experts- conclusions-for-juries-to-weigh-not-courts-nm-supreme-court https://www.globalgiving.co.uk/projects/clean-water-for- peru/updates/

Crosscutting Thrusts & Testbeds

Scaling/Fouling Control:

• electrosorption
• nanocoatings

Solar-desalination:

• membrane

distillation

• pervaporation

Selective and Multifunctional ENMs:

• photocatalysts
• adsorbents

Thrust 1 Thrust 2 Thrust 3 Wong & Villagrán Kim & Lind Verduzco & Perrault

Cross-cutting theme: Safety and Sustainability

Zimmerman & Gardea-Torresdey

SS.1. Lifecycle, Nano-safety and Techno-Economic Analyses SS.2. Regulatory/Social Acceptance, and Science Communication

• Testbeds (drinking, industrial)
• Industry Advisory Board

Testbeds & Innovation Ecosystem Westerhoff, Li, Walker, Davis

Education, D&I

Training, recruiting, retaining, core course, NEET, REU, RET

Year 4 numbers: 32 Faculty 75 Grad Students 48 Undergrads 12 Post-Docs 8 Staff Members

Examples of unique Engineered NanoMaterial (ENM) properties

Tunable hydrophobicity & surface charge Conductance Superpara- magnetism Selective surface area

Strong Innovation Ecosystem

• > 18 Orgs Signed
• 6 Signed in Year 4
• 6 R/D Partners

(1 Certification Org)

• 6 Startups
• 1 NEWT Spinout

(SolMem)

Provides market intelligence for commercialization decisions

Nanophotonics-Enhanced Membrane Distillation & Pervaporation Desalination

Photonic NPs (CB) selectively heat water at membrane surface and reverse temperature polarization, which significantly increases the water flux

Selective Electrosorption for Removal of Ionic Contaminants

Nanosized IX resin/PVA (T1 & P3.2)

Functional coatings

MoS2 intercalated LDH/PVA coating (P1.1 & 3.2)

Selectivity in electrosorption processes

Li et al (2017) Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 56: 2458-2465 Zuo et al. (2018) Environ. Sci. & Technol. 52: 9486 – 9494 Jain et al., (2018) Environ. Sci. & Technol. 52: 5859 – 5867 Jain et al., (2019) Mol. Syst., Des. Eng., 00: 1-9 Kim et al., (2019) Wat. Res. (in revision)

Porous carbon

+ + + + + + + + +

Cation exchange coating Anion exchange coating Porous carbon

U I

Brackish water

Na+ Na+ SO4

2-

Cl- Cl- Cl- Na+ Ca2+ Ca2+ Ca2+ Ca2+ SO4

2-

SO4

2-

SO4

2-

De-scaled water

Catalytic MOF- graphene (T1 & P3.2, associated project,)

• S. Garcia-Segura, M. Lanzarini-Lopes, K. Hristovski, P. Westerhoff (2018). Appl. Catal. B: Environ. 236:546-568

Electrocatalytic oxidation of organics and reduction of oxyanions

Electrocatalytic nanoparticles coatings

3D structure enhances organics mass transfer from/towards electrodes

Boron-doped nano-diamond Mixed metal oxides

Composite air-diffusion electrodes Bimetallic nanoparticles NO3

• selective reduction to N2

ANODIC PROCESSES CATHODIC PROCESSES

Electrogeneration of ROS and in-situ charge transfer Electro-H2O2 processes

OxByEl

Nano-engineering of NP crystalline planes allows specific control

• n surface catalytic sites for charge transfer reactions

Nanoscale enhancement of selectivity and current efficiency U Electrochemically-driven Low physical foot-print Modular – combines functionalities Nano-enabled electrodes

Industrial partners

Testbed piloting: high-recovery low- energy desalination at BGNDRF

Hydraulic recovery (r) and conductivity reduction (R) 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 5/27 5/29 5/31 6/2 6/4

recovery conductivity reduction Magna Imperio Systems (MIS) piloting at BGNDRF (Feb 2018 to present) Average Feed: 1131 mg/L TDS Average Product: 393 mg/L TDS Average recovery: 91% Average SEC: 0.18 kWh/m3

https://www.magnaimperiosystems.com/

• Innovative technologies will help make water

treatment:

– integrateable with renewable power supplies – more scaleable, even to small communities or household point-of-use – more widely available, even to off-grid locations – more affordable, even to low-income communities

Conclusions

Questions?

• W. Shane Walker, Ph.D., P.E.

Director, Center for Inland Desalination Systems Associate Professor, Civil Engineering wswalker2@utep.edu 915-747-8729

http://www.newtcenter.org/