NSF Award
0109181
0109181<br/>Schaefer<br/><br/>This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses the need for cost effective water treatment. Ultraviolet (UV) light treatment for chemical contaminants in water is attractive because contaminants are destroyed, unlike adsorption techniques that transfer the contaminant to a different media. However, the use of UV is limited by electricity costs for lamp power. This project uses a newly developed Surface Discharge (SD) UV lamp with UV efficiency three times higher than the industry standard mercury UV lamp, which will reduce electricity costs. Furthermore, the shorter wavelength UV spectrum of the SD lamp can both increase destruction rate and reduce the amount of chemical oxidant additive. Project objectives are to optimize lamp operation, to demonstrate the advantages of the SD lamp to treat atrazine and nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), two contaminants of national concern, and to establish commercial feasibility. A successful Phase I will establish the feasibility of a water treatment process based on the SD lamp, and will lead in Phase II to a prototype system and to commercialization in Phase III.<br/><br/><br/>The near term commercial applications of this project will be in the large water treatment market that includes groundwater, industrial and municipal wastewater, drinking water and general disinfection
