Grantee Research Project Results

Solar Powered Ionization with Coaxial Electrodes (SPICE) for Water Disinfection

EPA Grant Number: SU841127
Title: Solar Powered Ionization with Coaxial Electrodes (SPICE) for Water Disinfection
Investigators: Xie, Xing , Wilder, Carlton S
Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: I
Project Period: March 1, 2025 through February 28, 2027
Project Amount: $75,000
RFA: 21st Annual P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition Focusing on People, Prosperity, and the Planet Phase I (2024) RFA Text
Research Category: Drinking Water , Clean Water , Water Quality , Human Health , Water , P3 Challenge Area - Safe and Sustainable Water Resources , P3 Challenge Area - Sustainable and Healthy Communities , Environment , Water Treatment , P3 Awards

Description:

Our innovative CECIC enables superior disinfection performance while producing a very low and safe effluent copper concentration. Using a non-uniform electric field with enhanced strength near the center electrode, we can increase the permeability of the cell membrane and the excessive uptake of copper ions into the microbes, reducing the efficient biocidal copper concentration needed and improving bacterial inactivation. In this project, the students will design and build a SPICE system for POU water disinfection in rural areas of the US. This will involve designing and fabricating the copper ionization cell, configuring the solar panel control unit, its sensor network feedback loop, assembling the system, and lastly, testing and optimizing the system with synthetic and surface water for ideal flowrates, voltages, and effluent copper concentration. In order to provide safe drinking water for remote regions, the students will also test the built system for prolonged periods of time to ensure long-term success. Access to sufficient and safe drinking water is crucial to the survival and prosperity of people and the planet. Over 800 million people worldwide lack access to clean, uncontaminated drinking water and>1.1 million Americans lack a piped water connection. POU solutions for water disinfection are key to tackling this growing problem. The proposed project will create a more accessible and sustainable disinfection approach compatible for POU in remote areas, developing communities, and disaster regions in the US. Because of this, the proposed project is well aligned with the central theme of the P3 program that concerns people, prosperity, and the planet. This project will bring tremendous educational experience to the students involved by provoking their interests in novel disinfection technology at the water-energy nexus. The system's design and construction will require cross-disciplinary expertise and participation of students from different departments. They will engage in teamwork and laboratory training to produce a tangible final product. The customer discovery and user acceptance aspect of the work will enable all students to also focus on the end-user and understand the project's potential impact outside of the lab/university. Lastly, the SPICE prototype constructed in the project will serve as an educational platform to showcase the concepts of chlorine-free, sustainable, and energy-efficient drinking water disinfection to Georgia Tech and K-12 students in Atlanta, GA.

Objective:

The aim of this project is to develop a solar-powered, chlorine-free drinking water disinfection process. This solar powered ionization with coaxial electrodes (SPICE) system will be built by coupling a coaxial-electrode copper ionization cell (CECIC) with a solar panel as the power source. Millions lack consistent access to clean water in the US due to the high capital cost of treatment plants and difficulties in transporting chemicals. The proposed system will utilize solar energy to power a point-of-use (POU) drinking water disinfection process; creating a portable and sustainable approach to supplying safe drinking water for remote areas, developing communities, and disaster regions without central water disinfection facilities and consistent access to the power grid.

Expected Results:

The expected outcome of this proposed project is a functioning SPICE system able to continuously produce drinking water with a safe effluent copper concentration below the EPA standard. This system will include a CECIC device, a water pump, a water storage unit, a solar panel power source, a battery for power storage, and a sensor-oriented energy control unit. The students will evaluate the assembled system by operating it off-grid with synthetic and real water samples to better assess its disinfection performance and energy-efficiency for long-term operation.

Supplemental Keywords:

off-grid water treatment, sustainable water disinfection, minimizing disinfection by-products, coaxial electrodes, chlorine-free water disinfection.