N anotechnology- E nabled W ater T reatment NEWT Engineering Research Center http://www.newtcenter.org/ W. Shane Walker, UTEP Two Nations One Water April 24, 2019
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 https://www.globalgiving.co.uk/projects/clean-water-for- peru/updates / • Industrial wastewater reuse in remote sites (e.g., oil and gas fields, offshore platforms) https://www.lexvisio.com/article/2016/03/16/experts- conclusions-for-juries-to-weigh-not-courts-nm-supreme-court
Crosscutting Thrusts & Testbeds Zimmerman & Gardea-Torresdey Cross-cutting theme: Safety and Sustainability SS.1. Lifecycle, Nano-safety and Techno-Economic Analyses SS.2. Regulatory/Social Acceptance, and Science Communication Wong & Villagrán Kim & Lind Verduzco & Perrault Thrust 1 Thrust 2 Thrust 3 Selective and Solar-desalination: Scaling/Fouling Multifunctional ENMs: - membrane Control: distillation - electrosorption - photocatalysts - adsorbents - pervaporation - nanocoatings Year 4 numbers: Education, D&I Westerhoff, Li, Walker, Davis 32 Faculty Training, recruiting, Testbeds & Innovation Ecosystem 75 Grad Students retaining, 48 Undergrads - Testbeds (drinking, industrial) core course, NEET, 12 Post-Docs - Industry Advisory Board REU, RET 8 Staff Members
Examples of unique Engineered NanoMaterial (ENM) properties Selective Superpara- surface area magnetism Conductance Tunable hydrophobicity & surface charge
Strong Innovation Ecosystem • > 18 Orgs Signed • 6 R/D Partners • 6 Startups • 6 Signed in Year 4 ( 1 Certification Org) • 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 Functional coatings Selectivity in electrosorption processes Nanosized IX resin/PVA (T1 & P3.2) Porous carbon Ca 2+ Ca 2+ Cation exchange coating Ca 2+ Cl - Na + Ca 2+ Na + U De-scaled Brackish water water SO 4 2- Cl - SO 4 2- Na + Cl - Catalytic MOF- I Anion exchange coating graphene (T1 & P3.2, SO 4 2- associated project,) Porous carbon 2- SO 4 + + + + + + + + + MoS 2 intercalated Li et al (2017) Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 56: 2458-2465 Zuo et al. (2018) Environ. Sci. & Technol. 52: 9486 – 9494 LDH/PVA coating Jain et al., (2018) Environ. Sci. & Technol. 52: 5859 – 5867 (P1.1 & 3.2) Jain et al., (2019) Mol. Syst., Des. Eng., 00: 1-9 Kim et al., (2019) Wat. Res. (in revision)
Electrocatalytic oxidation of organics and reduction of oxyanions 3D structure enhances organics mass Nano-engineering of NP crystalline planes allows specific control transfer from/towards electrodes on 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 ANODIC PROCESSES Boron-doped nano-diamond Electrogeneration of ROS and in-situ charge transfer Mixed metal oxides Electrocatalytic nanoparticles coatings CATHODIC PROCESSES Composite air-diffusion electrodes Electro-H 2 O 2 processes Industrial partners - selective reduction to N 2 Bimetallic nanoparticles NO 3 OxByEl S. Garcia-Segura, M. Lanzarini-Lopes, K. Hristovski, P. Westerhoff (2018). Appl. Catal. B: Environ. 236:546-568
Testbed piloting: high-recovery low- energy desalination at BGNDRF Average Feed: 1131 mg/L TDS Average Product: 393 mg/L TDS Average recovery: 91% 0.18 kWh/m 3 Average SEC: Hydraulic recovery (r) and conductivity reduction (R) 100% recovery 80% 60% conductivity reduction 40% Magna Imperio Systems (MIS) 20% piloting at BGNDRF 0% (Feb 2018 to present) 5/27 5/29 5/31 6/2 6/4 https://www.magnaimperiosystems.com/
Conclusions • 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
Questions? http://www.newtcenter.org/ W. Shane Walker, Ph.D., P.E. Director, Center for Inland Desalination Systems Associate Professor, Civil Engineering wswalker2@utep.edu 915-747-8729
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