The ozonation of drinking water is attractive for small communities that employ local wells or surface water sources, provided it can be done at a reasonable cost. Although chlorine is widely used and is cheaper to use than ozone, it's use results in the formation of carcinogenic trihalomethanes. Also, chlorine has been found to be ineffective in the treatment of cryptosporidium. Under a SBIR Phase I grant from the NIH, Compact Membrane Systems (CMS) demonstrated at lab-scale that CMS' membrane technology could be successfully used to achieve efficient ozone levels that would be commercially practical, while membrane lifetimes in excess of 1300 hours when exposed to ozone and water were also observed. In Phase II the investigator will a) scale-up device size for pilot-scale water treatment operations, b) employ CMS' membrane technology to enhance the device performance and longevity, c) demonstrate efficient ozonation of water streams spiked with Cryptosporidium with the aid of animal studies, d) undertake pilot-scale experiments at the local water treatment plant, and e) develop detailed economics with respect to system size and calculate cost trade-off for system size versus costs per 1000 gallons of water treated.
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