Description du projet
Désinfecter l’eau grâce à l’énergie solaire
Dans le monde, au moins deux milliards de personnes utilisent une source d’eau potable contaminée par des matières fécales. Même dans les pays développés, des micro-organismes pathogènes et souvent résistants aux antibiotiques peuvent se retrouver dans l’eau potable. Il est urgent de disposer de méthodes de désinfection de l’eau durables et peu coûteuses. Les technologies de désinfection solaire existent depuis longtemps. Grâce au projet SED financé par l’UE, des matériaux de pointe à base de carbone nanostructuré viennent leur donner un nouveau souffle. L’eau et l’oxygène naturels seront utilisés à la place des oxydants chimiques et l’ensemble du processus sera alimenté par l’énergie solaire pour offrir une solution propre, durable et écologique.
Objectif
Water is one crucial natural resource since life on our planet depends on it. The transmission of serious diseases through pathogenic microorganisms in water is extremely common in the developing world and the antimicrobial resistance has increased globally. The understanding of new processes that guarantee effectively the elimination of resistant microorganisms and access to safe drinking water, is therefore of utmost importance, thus a priority in H2020 programme. The scientific aim of Porous carbon materials for Solar photoElectrolytic Disinfection (SED) project is the development of a new sustainable methodology for water treatment. It will be the first time that Ordered Mesoporous Carbons and graphene foam are used in a solar photoelectrolytic disinfection system. The societal aims are to contribute to the reduction of the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. SED project proposes an advanced oxidation process combined with specific carbon materials, which can operate under ambient temperature and pressure, developing a new low-cost technology to water treatment. Oxygen and water will be used as oxidant without the addition of consumable chemicals and without generation of potential mutagenic disinfection byproducts. If one uses solar energy to drive the photoelectrolytic process, then it becomes a truly clean technology. The Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM (Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, FEUP) has excellent resources and facilities to carry on this research, because it is one of the most advanced academic laboratories for carbon materials production and characterisation in the EU. The participation of the Adventech company as the partner organisation for the secondment is an excellent opportunity to develop a new research method in which the transference of knowledge is one of the principal aims. These are excellent conditions for the development of SED project by Dr Velo.
Champ scientifique
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energysolar energy
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwater treatment processesdrinking water treatment processes
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materialstwo-dimensional nanostructuresgraphene
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiology
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacydrug resistanceantibiotic resistance
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinateur
4099-002 Porto
Portugal