This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a water disinfection system based on an electrochemical generator that produces ozone directly into process water. Because of its excellent disinfection and oxidation qualities, ozone is widely used for drinking water and process water purification treatment. Ozone has been proven to deactivate resistant microorganisms such as Cryptosporidium Parvam and Giardia Lambia that have caused a large number of epidemics in the United States through drinking and process water. To enable wider adoption of ozone as an disinfectant, improvements in ozone generators are needed that are safer to operate than the corona arc discharge systems and that are more cost effective to install and operate. Building on demonstration of technical and economic feasibility during Phase I, this Phase II project will develop an electrochemistry based water disinfection system for commercial deployment. The Phase II program will focus on finalizing the electrocatalyst formulation, optimizing the module design for performance and cost, incorporating the reactor module into a packaged end-use product, and evaluating the process for disinfecting water in field applications using strategic partners.
The broader/commercial impact of this project is an improved and lower cost disinfection system that will prevent the vast outbreaks of contaminated water that harm the general public. These occurrences push the utmost urgency for advanced quality control methods, especially in food manufacturing. With the wider adoption of ozone generation systems, both water and food-borne diseases would diminish due to its effectiveness as a disinfectant against Lysteria, Salmonella, E. coli, and any other pathogens found in fruits, vegetables, meats, and seafood. Contributions to the scientific and technological field will be realized by the improved electrochemical reactor design and catalyst development that enables an ozone disinfection system that is low in cost and energy efficient.
Dr. Michael C. Kimble Reactive Innovations, LLC 2 Park Drive, Unit 4 Westford, MA 01886 (978) 692-4664 mkimble@reactive-innovations.com April 23, 2012 Reactive Innovations, LLC conducted a two-year long SBIR program to develop a water disinfection system based on an electrochemical generator that produces ozone directly into process water. Because of its excellent disinfection and oxidation qualities, ozone is widely used for drinking water and process water purification treatment. Ozone has been proven to deactivate resistant microorganisms such as Cryptosporidium Parvam and Giardia Lambia that have caused a large number of epidemics in the United States through drinking and process water. To enable wider adoption of ozone as an disinfectant, improvements in ozone generators are needed that are safer to operate than the corona arc discharge systems and that are more cost effective to install and operate. The overall objective of the Phase II SBIR program was to develop and demonstrate a water disinfection system based on electrochemically generated ozone. With this system, we aimed to disinfect water used in process manufacturing and for drinking by producing ozone in situ within the water stream. This is in contrast to systems that generate ozone externally from the water stream followed by injecting it into the water stream. In order to compete in the growing water disinfection landscape, our approach minimized the capital and operating costs by using a new electrochemical reactor design that can inexpensively produce ozone in the process water using just the ambient air and a DC power source. No other consumables are required. Building on demonstration of technical and economic feasibility during a previous Phase I project, this two-year long project developed an electrochemistry-based water disinfection system for commercial deployment. This effort focused on finalizing the electrocatalyst formulation, optimizing the module design for performance and cost, incorporating the reactor module into a packaged end-use product, and evaluating the process for disinfecting water in field applications. The broader and commercial impacts of this project are an improved and lower cost disinfection system that will prevent the vast outbreaks of contaminated water that harm the general public. These occurrences push the utmost urgency for advanced quality control methods, especially in food preparation and manufacturing. With the wider adoption of ozone generation systems, both water and food-borne diseases would diminish due to its effectiveness as a disinfectant against Lysteria, Salmonella, E. coli, and any other pathogens found in fruits, vegetables, meats, and seafood. Reactive’s efforts to commercialize the ozone generator have focused around applications that require low-flow rate ozonation such as restaurants and grocery stores. Competitive corona arc discharge systems do not scale favorably to these lower process rates giving Reactive’s electrochemical reactor a superior technical and cost advantage. For a low rate basis of 1 gal/min at 1 ppm O3, our reactor material cost is $20 or $0.09/mg O3. In comparison, the lowest cost ozone generator for small scale systems is about $0.65/mg O3 based on corona arc discharge; these other systems cannot be scaled to the lower water flow rates since corona arc discharge systems have a starting cost of about $7K. This gives a large market opportunity for Reactive’s electrochemical reactor that scales from $20 upward.
