Water pollutants like nitrate and heavy-metal ions can pose substantial problems to health and to the environment when they travel through waste water into rivers and lakes and even ground water. In order to remove these pollutants from the water, treatment processes employ, among others, adsorbers to which the pollutants stick. However, because they are polluted after their use, these adsorbers have to be replaced and disposed of in regular intervals, which is a costly process.
The goal of this project is the development of innovative, efficient, inexpensive, and easily regenerable adsorbers for the targeted removal of water pollutants. To reach this goal, the project applies organic compounds to (porous) ceramic carriers that can bind pollutants through specific functional groups (adsorption). The new adsorbers constitute a platform technology. They are selective and can be adapted to various (new) pollutant classes, or be designed for specific waste water compositions.
The functionalised adsorbers not only bind the pollutants selectively, they also facilitate the targeted release of pollutants (desorption) through exterior stimulation like exposure to ultraviolet light or through changes in pH value. This makes it possible to concentrate a pollutant in a low volume of water, and opens the door simultaneously to adsorber regeneration. The controllable adsorbers no longer have to be removed from the treatment process, transported, and disposed/burnt.
Besides the removal of pollutants from waste water, raw water, and drinking water, the adsorption and concentration of valuable substances from waste water (especially in industrial processes), water reuse management, and zero liquid discharge (production without waste water generation) are other possible fields of application for this platform technology.
