Veolia Water Technologies by GineersNow Engineering Magazine GineersNow Engineering Magazine September 2016 | Page 86

ECO-UV PROJECT BY
EU FORWARDS NON-
CHEMICAL WATER
TREATMENT PROCESS
Towards an environmentally
friendly approach to clean water,
an Eco-UV research project was
funded by the European Union
with EUR 3.9 million which is under
the Horizon 2020 program, to be
participated by engineers from
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
(KIT). They are tasked to develop
efficient ultraviolet (UV) emitters
and long-lived electronic systems
in treating the universal solvent.
How UV water filter and
purification systems work.
Dr. Rainer Kling of KIT. Photo by 3DPrint
The concept of UV radiation is not
unfamiliar in water purification.
The use of short-wave radiation
is an alternative to chemical
additives by still reducing
significantly the bacterial count
present in water in short periods
of time.
The Eco-UV project will focus
on the water processing – from
drinking
water
disinfection
to detoxification of industrial
process water. Along with their
focus is to reduce the carbon
dioxide emission and overall
environmental pollution.
Dr. Rainer Kling of KIT’s Light
Technology Institute said, “A high
energy efficiency and long service
life will be major features of the
new system. At KIT, we are working
on the key component, a new,
mercury-free UV emitter. With
silicon carbide as semiconductor
material, we reach a very high
power density. This does not
only increase efficiency, but also
reduces energy consumption and
CO2 emission.”
The emitters produced by the KIT
engineers will be integrated into
a system of Hanovia, a British
manufacturer of UV systems.
Researchers in Georgia Tech’s
School of Earth and Atmospheric
Sciences shows that for decades,
air pollution that drifts from East
Asia to the world’s largest ocean
has started a chain reaction which
has contributed to the depletion
of oxygen levels in tropical waters
thousands of miles away.
According to Taka Ito, an associate
professor at Georgia Tech,
"There's a growing awareness
that oxygen levels in the ocean
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SEPTEMBER 2016
Clean Water Technologies
may be changing over time. One
reason for that is the warming
environment -- warm water holds
less gas. But in the tropical Pacific,
the oxygen level has been falling
at a much faster rate than the
temperature change can explain."
This study was published May
16th in Nature Geoscience, and
was sponsored by the National
Science Foundation, a Georgia
Power Faculty Scholar Chair and a
Cullen-Peck Faculty Fellowship.
The researchers described in the
report how air pollution from
industrial activities increased
the levels of iron and nitrogen
in the ocean of the coast of East
Asia. Iron and Nitrogen are key
nutrients for marine life, and are
carried into the tropical regions by
ocean currents, where they will be
consumed by photosynthesizing
phytoplankton.
But while tropical phytoplankton
may release more oxygen into the
EScienceNews
IRON-RICH DUST
CAUSES OXYGEN LOSS
IN OUR OCEANS
atmosphere, their consumption of
excess nutrients have a negative
effect on the dissolved oxygen
levels deeper in the ocean.