Research
Novel water technologies, which minimize energy and chemical supply chains, will be crucial in addressing environmental and water injustices faced by developing communities around the world.
The WWET Lab investigates novel electrochemical processes, materials and sensors, utilizing various modeling techniques to inform, automize and implement water system designs and address infrastructure vulnerabilities.
APPLIED ELECTROCHEMICAL PROCESSES
While numerous water and wastewater treatment technologies exist to remediate even the most polluted waters, conventional processes can often be unsuitable for small, remote and decentralised system applications. The impracticality of conventional technologies is associated with the lack of economy-of-scale, availability of trained operators, and/or the inaccessibility and cost of transport necessary for process supplies, such as coagulants and chemical oxidants. Electrochemical technologies present a potentially promising and powerful alternative for decentralized system applications, as they can eliminate the chemical supply chain associated with conventional treatment options by generating chemicals on-site and on-demand.
Projects within this scope include electrocoagulation, electro-oxidation, electrosorption and electrosynthesis of process chemicals.
Wastewater treatment facilities account for a significant portion of the carbon emission in the United States. Moreover, to make drinking water treatment more accessible to all and address the current the potable water and environmental injustices worldwide, the development of novel treatment processes which minimize energy demands and carbon outputs are vital. Decentralized technologies which can be used as sustainable energy sources through simultaneous water treatment processes are imperative to address the challenges faced by developing communities or in disaster relief contexts. The development of these processes is imperative to lead in the efforts to decarbonize the wastewater industry and eliminate potable water inequity.
Projects within this research scope include the generation of sustainable energy sources through simultaneous water treatment processes, such as simultaneous cathodic hydrogen generation and anodic electro-oxidation.
WATER ENERGY NEXUS
NOVEL MATERIALS EXPLORATION
The development and understanding of novel materials to make more efficient electrochemical processes that maximize target reactions and minimize energy consumption is an important precursor for applied engineering process development. Considerations also need to be paid to the cost and environmental impacts that conventional electrochemical materials may have. In order to provide equitable water treatment to developing and decentralized applications, in a sustainable way, new materials must be developed.
Research within this scope investigates the development and use of high oxygen overpotential electrodes, for the direct treatment of contaminant species and the electrosynthesis of process oxidants, as well as for contaminant sensor applications. Particular reactions of interest include advanced and reactive oxygen species mediate oxidation, chlorine evolution, and ferrate(IV/V/VI) synthesis.
One challenge to the implementation of water treatment systems for decentralized applications, is the availability of trained water system operators. The use of feedforward and feedback controls may minimize the need for highly qualified personnel on-site, resulting in more robust infrastructure and faster implementation of treatment systems. Developing and implementing the use of sensitive electrochemical sensors, unit operations could be automated using machine learning models and process controls to adjust treatment conditions based on influent and effluent water quality. Various models can be used to better understand the complex relationships between water quality, system infrastructure, and operating and hydraulic conditions.
Projects being pursued within this research scope include the development of sensitive electrochemical sensors and the implementation of process control systems into POU processes. Various modeling techniques are also being used to make more robust and autonomous processes, including mathematical, computational fluid dynamic, and supervised artificial neural network models.
AUTONOMOUS WATER SYSTEMS & MODELING
