NSF Award
9531275
*** 9531275 Moran This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project deals with toxic and infectious contaminants which are present in unacceptably high concentrations in groundwater and in wastewater in many locations. While many toxic contaminants in wastewater must be reduced to concentrations on the order of parts per billion prior to disposal, a more modest reduction is appropriate for industrial in-process water recycling. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project from Science Research Laboratory will apply a compact, low cost, all-solid-state induction accelerator technology to the destruction of toxic organic contaminants in wastewater and to industrial process water so that it is made suitable for in-process water recycling. In the first phase of this research, Science Research Laboratory was able to demonstrate effective and efficient destruction of benzene, and toluene with and without addition of oxidizing enhancers, hydrogen peroxide and dissolved oxygen. Science Research Laboratory is now in a position to lay the groundwork for rapid implementation of an induction-accelerator-based water decontamination system based on electron beam radiolysis on a pilot scale. Pilot scale is within the design parameters of the current SNOMAD-IV accelerator at Science Research Laboratory. Cost studies show this technology is superior to all competing remediation treatments, especially at contaminant concentrations above 50 ppm. Advantages of solid state circuitry, modularity, scalability, and compactness offer additional technical advantages over conventional electron beam systems. Benzene destruction was effective to three or four orders of magnitude. Efficiencies compare well to those of conventional electrostatic electron accelerators. Peroxide addition improves destruction efficiency by approximately 37%. There are important cost reductions associated with these efficiency gains. This project has the potential to provide a cost-effective treatmen t which will not only improve the quality of effluent water but may also greatly reduce or eliminate wastewater discharge to the environment by facilitating industrial in-process water recycling and thereby removing a major source of pollution. EPA estimates 35 billion gallons of highly toxic wastewater was treated by U.S. industries in 1989 at a cost of $2 Billion. SRL's novel induction accelerator may capture 5% or more of this market to provide annual gross revenues of $100 million. Since the water intensive pulp and paper industry discharge even much larger volumes of wastewater, 4.25 billion gallons daily, SRL will first target this industry on a pilot scale. ***
