GOALI: Integrated Oxidation Vapor-gap Reverse Osmosis Systems for Water Reuse

GOALI：用于水回用的集成氧化汽隙反渗透系统

• 批准号: 2227273
• 负责人: Anthony Straub
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-01 至 2025-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2227273&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: GOALI; Integrated; Oxidation; Vapor; gap

The American West is experiencing drought conditions worse than those seen in nearly a millennium. Securing reliable water supplies is therefore essential to ensuring the health and prosperity of the nation. Purifying wastewater (treated sewage) so that it can be reused as a water source is a sustainable method to increase water supplies and uses less energy than alternatives, such as making drinking water out of seawater. To be safe for consumption, wastewater must be thoroughly treated to remove all harmful contaminants, a practice that is costly and resource intensive. This research project will develop a new treatment system that combines oxidation and membrane processes to reuse wastewater more efficiently. The work will determine how wastewater contaminants are removed in a new membrane process and how using oxidation combined with membranes can further improve contaminant removal. The project will also test the ability of the new system to remove regulated compounds from actual wastewater in close collaboration with Trussell Technologies, the industrial project partner and a leader in water reuse in California. The project will build a diverse scientific workforce by training students that will work as interns at Trussell Technologies and learn about the societal importance of water reuse. Additional benefits to society will be accomplished through education and training including the mentoring of one graduate student at the University of Colorado at Boulder.Converting wastewater effluent into potable water requires a high degree of pathogen and contaminant removal, which is energy-intensive and costly. This GOALI proposal will advance a new membrane-based reuse treatment train centered on vapor-gap reverse osmosis (VGRO) integrated with strong pre-oxidation for fouling and organic micropollutant control. VGRO is an emerging process that separates constituents by volatility, allowing for near-complete rejection of non-volatile and semi-volatile contaminants poorly removed by reverse osmosis, the conventional system for removal of benchmark contaminants regulated in current reuse operations. Preliminary research on this project also indicates that the membranes used in VGRO resist degradation from strong oxidants (e.g., ozone, free chlorine), potentially overcoming a major weakness of conventional reverse osmosis membranes. The scientific objectives of the research are to (1) explore the oxidative transformation of model wastewater contaminants and how this affects their rejection in VGRO, (2) determine the impact of ozonation and chlorination on membrane properties and fouling behavior, and (3) evaluate the performance of an integrated ozonation and VGRO process against contaminant removal benchmarks while treating actual wastewater reuse influents in close collaboration with the industrial partner, Trussell Technologies. The industrial collaboration is essential for keeping the research within realistic boundaries for reuse practices and they will be co-leading tasks and mentoring students. Overall, the results of this work will advance VGRO with oxidation as a potential alternative to current costly practices in water reuse and improve the fundamental understanding of contaminant removal in oxidation and membrane systems. The project will also improve scientific literacy through an outreach program that teaches elementary school students about water using dance and art.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

美国西部的干旱状况比近一年千年的干旱条件更糟。因此，确保可靠的供水对于确保国家的健康和繁荣至关重要。净化废水（经过处理的污水），以便可以将其重复用作水源，是一种可持续的方法，可以增加水供应和使用较少的能量，而不是替代品，例如使饮用水从海水中饮用。为了安全消费，必须对废水进行彻底处理，以消除所有有害的污染物，这种做法是昂贵且资源密集的。该研究项目将开发一种新的治疗系统，该系统结合了氧化和膜过程，以更有效地重复使用废水。这项工作将确定如何在新的膜过程中去除废水污染物，以及如何使用氧化与膜结合可以进一步改善污染物的去除。该项目还将测试新系统与工业项目合作伙伴Trussell Technologies和加利福尼亚州水再利用的领导者Trussell Technologies密切合作中去除实际废水中受管制化合物的能力。该项目将通过培训学生来建立多样的科学劳动力，这些劳动力将在Trussell Technologies担任实习生，并了解水资源的社会重要性。将通过教育和培训来实现社会的其他好处，包括在科罗拉多大学博尔德分校的一名研究生指导。转化废水排入饮用水中需要高度的病原体和污染物去除，这是能源密集型且昂贵的。该靶向提案将推进基于膜的新型再利用处理列表，该治疗列表以蒸气差渗透（VGRO）为中心，该疗程集成了强大的预氧化，用于结垢和有机微量污染物控制。 VGRO是一个新兴过程，通过波动性将成分分离，允许对非挥发性和半挥发性污染物几乎完全排斥通过反渗透量很差的污染物，这是去除当前重复使用操作中调节的基准污染物的常规系统。对该项目的初步研究还表明，在VGRO中使用的膜从强氧化剂（例如臭氧，游离氯）中抗性降解，可能会克服常规反向渗透膜的主要弱点。该研究的科学目标是（1）探索模型废水污染物的氧化转化，以及这如何影响其在VGRO中的拒绝，（2）确定臭氧化和氯化对膜性能和污染行为的影响，并评估（3）评估在与工业合作伙伴Trussell Technologies密切合作的情况下，对污染物清除基准的综合臭氧和VGRO工艺的性能在处理实际的废水再利用进水中。工业合作对于将研究保持在现实的界限以进行重复使用实践至关重要，它们将是共同领导的任务和指导学生。总体而言，这项工作的结果将通过氧化来推动VGRO，这是当前昂贵的水再利用实践实践的潜在替代方法，并提高了对氧化和膜系统中污染物去除的基本理解。该项目还将通过一项宣传计划来提高科学素养，该计划向小学学生讲述使用舞蹈和艺术的水知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准通过评估来支持的。

项目成果

Water Desalination via Pressure-Driven Distillation with Chlorine-Resistant and Large-Area Polymeric Membranes

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.3c00391
• 发表时间: 2023-07
• 期刊: Environmental Science & Technology Letters
• 作者: D. T. Nguyen;Kian P Lopez;Sangsuk Lee;Jongho Lee;Mark T. Hernandez;Anthony P. Straub