Spy

The “Sense and Purify” SPy technology allows organic molecules and pathogens, that cannot be destroyed using conventional wastewater treatments, to be mineralised to carbon dioxide, ammonia and water. It does this by generating a high concentration of the powerful oxidising agent, hydroxyl radicals, throughout a water sample volume with very high electrical efficiency. The active agent has no persistent toxicity (radical lifetime is  5 μs), causes no residue and causes no secondary pollution. It can be implemented at source, is highly mobile/portable, is low cost, has a high throughput, ensures optimised water quality for a given application through sensing/analysis of the inlet and outlet streams, is energy efficient, environmentally friendly, broadly applicable to a wide range of waste streams (from microalgae farms to industry and municipal waste) and has low Capex and Opex.

WORK PACKAGE 1: Sensors For Wastewater. We will develop sensors that address gaps in existing technology so as to create an integrated, closed loop sense and purify system. In this way, the water inlet flow can be dynamically controlled to maximise wastewater throughput while minimising both the pollutant concentration in the outflow and the overall energy consumption.

WORK PACKAGE 2: Diamond Particles For Wastewater Treatment. The SPy technology uses an electric field to induce a potential in individual BDD particles so that they can produce hydroxyl radicals to mineralise contaminants, e.g., pharmaceuticals, to carbon dioxide. It is important to note that there is no electrical connection to the BDD particles, i.e., the mineralisation is wirelessly driven through the electric field. This work package will optimise the composition and size of the conducting diamond particles to maximise the rate of hydroxyl radical production. WP2 will: i) Develop a computational model that will inform the selection of conducting diamond particles. ii) Experimentally characterise and optimise the particles as well as using fast scan methods and GC product analysis to elucidate the destruction mechanism.

WORK PACKAGE 3: Integrated Reactor. The major objective of SPy is to create a technology that can mineralise/incinerate organic pollutants and demonstrate its utility for the clean-up of food, pharma and municipal wastewater streams. WP 3 will design flow through reactors so as to optimise the destruction of organic pollutants. We will identify the optimum electrode geometries (number, size, position, structure) to create sufficiently intense electric fields so that the potential of the BDD particles within the reactor leads to hydroxyl generation.

WORK PACKAGE 4 Real World Wastewater Testing. We will undertake real world testing of the performance of the SPy reactor using food production and pharmaceutical wastewater streams. These streams have been carefully selected to have different properties from the treatment perspective including a wide range of total organic loads, different loads of pathogens, suspended solids and compounds with a wide range of oxidation potentials. Also, the samples present different analytical challenges (concentration, number of analytes, dynamic ranges etc.) for the integrated sensing system.

Our ultimate objective is to see the SPy technology commercialised and widely deployed in a range of industries. For some applications, e.g., pharmaceutical production streams, it is likely to be the only treatment needed while others, e.g., food waste, may require additional bioprocessing. To move the technology towards commercialisation, significant additional investment will be required that will initially be sought through Angel and then Venture Capital investors with a view to either spinning out a manufacturing company or establishing a distribution deal with one of the major distributors. This programme directly addresses UN SDG Goal 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all. The innovative Sense and Purify programme will create a custom reactor with integrated electrochemical sensors that is suitable for the local production of clean water for industry or drinking at low capital and operating cost. To enhance innovation capacity and integration of new knowledge prototype reactors will be demonstrated for the treatment of production wastewaters from the food (NU) as well as pharmaceutical industries (DCU). Moreover, because of the oxidising power of the hydroxyl radicals produced, the technology will find fruitful application in the environmental remediation of brown field sites since the feeder electrodes generating the electric field could be inserted into contaminated soil and the organic pollutants, e.g., fuel oil, PAHs etc. destroyed. The expertise of the team are high complementary with each partner having distinct, autonomous tasks that link directly to the overall objective. The mid-term benefits include the translation of basic research into practical application, e.g., the metal complexes into sensors, new bilateral partnerships, trained researchers and significant dissemination and communication of the project. Longer term, the team plan to leverage this investment and work together to commercialise the technology most likely through a distribution deal with a major supplier or a spin-out company.