US NSF selects consortium of industry experts to develop off-grid water treatment system

National Science Foundation (NSF) has selected a consortium of industry, university and government partners to set up Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Systems (NEWT) Center in Houston, US.

This Engineering Research Center (ERC) is aimed at developing mobile, off-grid water treatment systems to meet the clean water requirements of millions of people.

The technology will be made available to regions lacking clean water resources, and can be helpful for locations ranging from rural communities to remote outposts or disaster zones.

This ERC will involve collaborative efforts by experts from Rice, Arizona State University, Yale University and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), who will work with over 30 partners, including Shell, Baker Hughes, UNESCO, the US Army Corps of Engineers and NASA.

NEWT is being funded by a five-year, $18.5m NSF grant which involves a provision for renewal for a potential term of ten years.

NEWT director and the NSF grant’s principal investigator Pedro Alvarez said: "The importance of clean water to global health and economic development simply cannot be overstated.

"We envision using technology and advanced materials to provide clean water to millions of people who lack it and to enable energy production in the United States to be more cost-effective and more sustainable in regard to its water footprint."

According to NEWT deputy director Paul Westerhoff, the modular water-treatment systems will be small enough to be set up at the back of a tractor-trailer.

It will involve the use of nanoengineered catalysts, membranes and light-activated materials to change the economics of water treatment.

Westerhoff said: "We’ve set a path for transformative new technology that will move water treatment from a predominantly chemical treatment process to more efficient catalytic and physical processes that exploit solar energy and generate less waste."

NEWT Associate Director for Research Qilin Li said: "The NEWT drinking water system will be able to produce drinking water from any source, including pond water, seawater and floodwater, using solar energy and even under cloudy conditions.

"The modular treatment units will be easy to configure and reconfigure to meet desired water-quality levels. The system will include components that target suspended solids, microbes, dissolved contaminants and salts, and it will have the ability to treat a variety of industrial wastewater according to the industry’s need for discharge or reuse."

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Image: NEWT will develop modular, off-grid water treatment technology. Photo: courtesy of Rice University News & Media.