Participants
- Functional Unit “Water Treatments”
- Functional Unit “Desalination and Phostosynthesis”
Contacts
J. L. Casas López (jlcasas@ual.es)
Funds:
Consejería de Conocimiento, Investigación y Universidad. Secretaría General de Universidades, Investigación y Tecnología. Junta de Andalucía. Convocatoria de subvenciones a «proyectos de I+D+i» universidades y entidades públicas de investigación. Modalidad RETOS.
Current Situation:
In progress
Summary
On 25 May 2020, Regulation (EU) 2020/741 of the European Parliament on minimum requirements for water reuse was published, applicable from June 2023. This regulation aims to promote the reclamation of wastewater in Europe, mainly for agricultural irrigation, which is particularly important in Almeria, with a high water deficit and an economy linked to intensive agriculture. In addition, it should promote the development of sustainable technologies that meet these requirements in an environmentally safe way. This proposal represents a paradigm shift in water disinfection using solar energy, such as the use of concentrated solar radiation. To date, research in this field has been carried out on static collection systems without active tracking of the solar position. On the one hand, in PET bottles for disinfection of water for human consumption in areas without direct access to drinking water; on the other hand, in tubular photoreactors with compound parabolic solar collectors (CPC), or open channel reactors (raceway pond reactor, RPR) using the photo-Fenton process that uses iron and hydrogen peroxide together with solar radiation. In this proposal, wastewater will be disinfected, for the first time, with concentrated solar energy, in tubular reactors located in the focal area of low-cost parabolic trough collectors with concentration factors between 3 and 5. This will operate at temperatures between 60-70C and UV irradiance up to 150W/m2, accelerating the inactivation of micro-organisms and the degradation of emerging pollutants. In addition, special attention will be paid to the economics of the process, the impact of regeneration and the economic boost to agriculture focused on the use of renewable resources. This two-year project will lay the scientific and economic foundations for a new clean technology for the regeneration of agricultural irrigation water.
Objectives:
In this project, the disinfection of secondary WWTP effluents by means of concentrated solar radiation in photoreactors operated in continuous mode is being considered for the first time. The general objectives of the project, taking into account the available funding and the two-year duration, can be summarised as follows:
- Design and build a prototype solar photoreactor with concentration factors between 3 and 5, which can be operated in continuous flow.
- To study concentrated solar disinfection from a phenomenological and kinetic point of view. Determine the safe UV dose for all the pathogens contemplated in the new European regulation: E. coli, coliphages and spores of sulphate-reducing bacteria.
- To optimise the continuous operating variables of the photoreactor for the regeneration of wastewater on a pilot scale.
- To study the economic viability of the proposed new process and to investigate the potential of new reclamation technologies in the water market, their impact on the economic development of the region, with special reference to agriculture and tourism.