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Nano-oxygenation in water treatment by ambient-pressure air-fed, ultra-low-energy nanobubble generation

Project description

Pioneering a new method for generating nanoscale gas bubbles in water

Nanobubbles are tiny gas bubbles formed when air or oxygen is sheared into a water stream. Measuring less than 200 nm in size, they do not float to the surface and can stay in the solution for a very long time. With the support of the EIC-funded project AQUA BUBBLES: Nanobubbles for water treatment, AquaB, a University College Dublin spin-off company, seeks to develop a breakthrough technology to generate nanobubbles of different gases in an aqueous solution. The proposed nanobubble generation technology will be based on electrostriction phenomena induced by electric fields, which "suck in" gas molecules to the mother solvent in a very low-energy way. The novel nanobubble generators will be tested in low-energy water oxygenation for important water-aeration applications.

Objective

Spun out of UCD Chemical Engineering, AquaB's ambitious mission is to no less than clean up the world's water.

The intellectual machinery embedded in our nanobubble-generation and controlled release. This is based on an electric-field-inducing electrostriction, which serves to create a transient negative-pressure region, thereby 'sucking in' gas into the liquid in the form of many nano-bubbles, which are kinetically metastable, typically for many weeks and longer. The energy costs of this additive-free, non-contact method are an order of magnitude lower than 'classical' approaches, e.g. involving massive pressure drops from pumping across Venturi tubes, etc - with a far longer lifetime and smaller, more uniform size range.

In this project, we will revolutionise the low-energy and low-maintenance aeration of water. The novel NB generator will be tested in three use cases - wastewater treatment, aquaculture and agriculture, and prepared for full commercialisation.

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Coordinator

AQUAB NANOBUBBLE INNOVATIONS LIMITED
Net EU contribution
€ 2 499 999,95
Address
OLD MILL INDUSTRIAL ESTATE KILL NAAS
W91 KFV4 Kildare
Ireland

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Ireland Eastern and Midland Mid-East
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost
€ 3 571 428,50