| Summary: |
The increasing global health concerns due to the surge in urbanization, increasing water contamination, and increasing world industrialization are driving the ozone technology
market globally.
O3 is usually produced by passing a stream of O2 through a corona discharge system, which provides energy to convert O2 to O3 [1]. The reactive nature of O3 typically limits the
capability of O3 generators to produce O3 in concentrations greater than 15%, resulting in low yield and high O3 production costs [2]. High O3 supply demands, the extended
contacting time required in the reaction chamber, and the bulky size of the equipment (low gas-liquid mass transfer rates of O3), also constitutes a major impediment to the mass
penetration of ozone technology in the water treatment sector [3].
OZONE4WATER will address these issues by developing a disruptive ozone-technology for water treatment including: (i) functionalized membranes for O3/O2 separation to obtain an
O3-enriched gas stream, allowing for O3 generation at lower concentration utilizing a lower specific power (power savings ranging from 30 to 70%); simultaneously the O2 from the
mixture of O2/O3 can be recovered and recycled back to the O3 generator, thereby saving costs for the energy to produce O2 and reduce in 60-75% the O2 consumption. Further,
the ability to produce an O3-enriched gas stream increases the effectiveness of O3 gas mixtures because the higher partial pressure provides a stronger driving force for reactions in
the liquid phase; and (ii) the development of a low footprint ozone side stream contacting train for water treatment; the integration of the O3/O2 separation unit with a pressurized
static micro/meso-structured mixer (NETmix) [4], enhances the O3 mass transfer from the gas phase to the liquid phase to 100% or very close to it, leading to a bubble-free O3
enriched water stream, resulting in a downstream highly compact reaction chamber.
The project will start with the development of  |
Summary
The increasing global health concerns due to the surge in urbanization, increasing water contamination, and increasing world industrialization are driving the ozone technology
market globally.
O3 is usually produced by passing a stream of O2 through a corona discharge system, which provides energy to convert O2 to O3 [1]. The reactive nature of O3 typically limits the
capability of O3 generators to produce O3 in concentrations greater than 15%, resulting in low yield and high O3 production costs [2]. High O3 supply demands, the extended
contacting time required in the reaction chamber, and the bulky size of the equipment (low gas-liquid mass transfer rates of O3), also constitutes a major impediment to the mass
penetration of ozone technology in the water treatment sector [3].
OZONE4WATER will address these issues by developing a disruptive ozone-technology for water treatment including: (i) functionalized membranes for O3/O2 separation to obtain an
O3-enriched gas stream, allowing for O3 generation at lower concentration utilizing a lower specific power (power savings ranging from 30 to 70%); simultaneously the O2 from the
mixture of O2/O3 can be recovered and recycled back to the O3 generator, thereby saving costs for the energy to produce O2 and reduce in 60-75% the O2 consumption. Further,
the ability to produce an O3-enriched gas stream increases the effectiveness of O3 gas mixtures because the higher partial pressure provides a stronger driving force for reactions in
the liquid phase; and (ii) the development of a low footprint ozone side stream contacting train for water treatment; the integration of the O3/O2 separation unit with a pressurized
static micro/meso-structured mixer (NETmix) [4], enhances the O3 mass transfer from the gas phase to the liquid phase to 100% or very close to it, leading to a bubble-free O3
enriched water stream, resulting in a downstream highly compact reaction chamber.
The project will start with the development of ceramic (e.g. zeolites) and mixed matrix (e.g. PDMS/silicalite-1) membranes, with customized properties for O2/O3 separation (Task
1). The membrane properties (e.g. selectivity and permeability) will be assessed and included in a mathematical model for design and optimization of the gas separation and
dissolution processes, considering a tube-in-tube membrane configuration. At the same time, O3 dissolution in the static mixer NETmix (Task 2), as a function of reactor design and
physical/chemical parameters will be optimized through the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools. Those results will be used to design, construct and start-up a low
footprint O3 side stream contacting train laboratory prototype, integrating a tube-in-tube membrane reactor with the static mixer NETmix (Task 3). The prototype will be validated
for pre- and post-oxidation of freshwater and tertiary treatment of UWW, thereby allowing for access to safe and affordable drinking water [5] and production of irrigation-grade
treated UWW, safe (e.g. COVID-19 genetic material has been recently detected in UWW) for reuse in agriculture [6] (Task 4). Finally, the environmental, economic and social impacts
of the technology developed and future implementation will be assessed through a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (Task 5). Exploitation & dissemination of project´s results and
training of highly skilled researchers will be considered key and is a major focus of the project (Task 6).
This project brings together different academia and industry researchers with complementary competences and expertise in gas separation/membrane technology [7] (FEUP), CFD
modelling/static mixers [8] (FEUP), ozonation/reactors for water treatment [9] (FEUP), design/implement ozone solutions for water treatment (Enkrott), designing/building
/managing water supply and UWW systems (AdP) and LCA (SIMBIENTE). The joint research will seek to earn scientific leadership in the ozonation technology arena for water
treatment, contributing to knowledge accumulation and competencies of the business sector and National Scientific and Technological system (see Table 1). Moreover, improved
water decontamination has strong societal impacts for both environment protection and manufacturing. Industry partners have a privileged channel in the water treatment markets,
not only in terms of potential customers, but also in terms of chain supply of equipment, which is an obvious advantage to make use of TRL 4 data gained in this project, and to
make a compelling case for additional investment to support commercialization.
Vítor Vilar, PI of the project, was awarded a "Principal Researcher" individual grant (CEECIND/01317/2017), sponsored by FCT, obtaining the highest classification given by the
Environmental Engineering Technologies evaluation panel, to develop a research project with similar goals of OZONE4WATER. Therefore, OZONE4WATER will provide the requested
funds necessary to support the goals proposed in the PI individual grant. |