Program at a glance

Funding Agency: H2020

Program Period: 2019-2023

Project Acronym: PANI WATER

Project Name: ‘Photo-irradiation and Adsorption based Novel Innovations for Water treatment’.

Chair of the project: Professor Kevin McGuigan

Dedicated Webpage:  NOT YET available.

Abstract

About2.1 billion people live without access to safe water sources. Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CEC) such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides and nanoparticles are increasingly being detected in wastewater and in drinking water around the world, in addition to geogenic pollutants, pathogens, antibiotic resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes. Water treatment systems that remove CEC and common contaminants from wastewater and drinking water are therefore urgently needed.

PANI WATER will develop, deploy and validate in the field six prototypes for the removal of contaminants, including CEC, from wastewater and drinking water. The prototypes for wastewater treatment will consist in (i) a 20000 L/day multifunctional oxidation reactor (MITO₃X), (ii) a 10 L/day photoelectrochemical system (PES), and (iii) a 100 L/day solar photolytic plant (SPP). The prototypes for drinking water treatment will consist in (iv) a 300 L/hour filtration, adsorption and UVC LED system(FAU) (v) a 20 L transparent jerrycan for solar water disinfection (TJC) and (vi) a 2000 L/day electrocoagulation, oxidation and disinfection system (EOD). These prototypes will be deployed in peri-urban and rural areas in India. The consortium will work closely with the communities at the field sites, and carry out water quality analyses, health and social impact assessments, and advocate for safe reuse of treated wastewater for irrigation, and preservation of drinking water sources. PANI technologies can find promising application among the agricultural sector, water-demanding businesses (e.g. textile, pharmaceutical), and the Indian water utilities.

Consortium

1. Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, RCSI (Ireland)
2. National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, NEERI (India)
3. University Rey Juan Carlos, URJC (Spain)
4. Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani – Goa, BITS (India)
5. Maynooth University, MU (Ireland)
6. Society for Development Alternatives, DEVALT (India)
7. INNOVA SRL, INN (Italy)
8. KWALITY Photonics P LTD, KPP (India)
9. CIEMAT - Plataforma Solar de Almeria, CIEMAT (Spain)
10. Affordable Water Solutions, AWS (India)
11. University of Cyprus, UCY (Cyprus)
12. University of Ulster, UU (United Kingdom)
13. Institute of Technology Sligo, ITS (Ireland)
14. AQUASOIL SRL, AQUA (Italy)
15. Universita del Salento, UNISAL (Italy)
16. New University of Buckinghamshire, BUCKS (United Kingdom)
17. University of Santiago de Compostela, USC (Spain)
18. Society for Technology & Action for Rural Advancement, TARA (India)

Objectives

The overall goal of the action is to increase the availability of safe drinking water to the minimum level recommended by the World Health Organization (at least 7.5 L/person/day) in the target communities, and to obtain total wastewater treatment capacity of at least 10000 L/day, producing irrigation-grade, CEC-free, treated wastewater.

• MITO₃X prototype will make use of the oxidation process between ozone and hydrogen peroxide and Fenton process activated by UV light
• PES will electrochemically generate radical oxygen species capable of removing CEC from wastewater at the point-of- entry (i.e. grey water)
• SPP will make use of the oxidation process catalyzed by the solar activation of green oxidants

These three technologies will generate irrigation-grade water from contaminated wastewater

• FAU system will combine traditional approaches such as filtration and adsorption, combined with UVC LED irradiation
• TJC will be constructed of transparent food grade material transparent to UV-light, capable of inactivating pathogens via solar disinfection (SODIS)
• EOD system will combine electrochemical coagulation, oxidation and chlorine disinfection

These three technologies will generate drinking-grade water from unsafe water sources.

In addition to CEC, they will also remove geogenic pollutants, pathogens, antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs).

The consortium will work in close collaboration the potential end-users in low-income, water stressed, peri-urban and rural areas in India through a carefully planned social science approach. The output technologies are intended to be low-cost, power-efficient, simple to operate and requiring low maintenance, and their successful dissemination and commercialization will contribute providing safe drinking water and irrigation-grade water to businesses, public activities, and households in low-income communities in India, strengthening the local economy and improving public health.