Water CAMPWS

Professor Vernon Snoeyink

Center of Advanced Materials for Purification of water
New NSF center seeks solution for a thirsty world

ILLINOIS RESEARCHERS ACCEPTED THE CHALLENGE TO IMPROVE THE WORLD’S WATER SUPPLY with the establishment here of a new National Science Foundation (NSF) Science and Technology Center devoted to water purification. The new Center of Advanced Materials for Purification of Water with Systems (Water CAMPWS, pronounced “campus”) is headquartered within CEE, with a number of department faculty members participating as investigators, says Professor Vernon Snoeyink, director of the center.

“Drinking water is really critical throughout the world,” Snoeyink says. “In developing countries, we have tens of thousands of children dying every day because they don’t have access to good quality water. There is a very important need throughout the world for good water purification techniques.”

An NSF grant for $20 million over five years established the center in late 2002 with University of Illinois as the lead institution. In addition to the CEE researchers, faculty from UIUC’s Chemistry, Geology, Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering departments also are contributing as investigators. Partner institutions are Stanford University and Clark Atlanta University. Individual investigators from the University of California-Berkeley and Ohio State University are also participating.

The goal of the center is to develop new water purification materials and systems, Snoeyink says. The two primary research thrust areas include the development of new membrane materials and techniques; and the disposition of trace contaminants, either by removing them from the water or by converting them to harmless substances, he says.

Assistant Professor Eberhard Morgenroth looks on as PhD student Carlos Lopex Larios takes activated sludge samples form a reactor

“Membranes are a very important advance in the last couple of decades for water purification, so they play a major role in our ability to take contaminants out of the water,” Snoeyink says. “It’s the feeling of the investigators of the center that there are some important advances yet to be made.”

Investigators within the department include Professor Mark Clark, whose research focuses on developing new adsorbents—materials that attract organic compounds in water—which can be combined with membranes to create hybrid systems that enable membrane operation at higher rates of flow and at lower cost during water purification. Associate Professor Lutgarde Raskin and Assistant Professor Eberhard Morgenroth are conducting research on the coupling of biological treatment systems with membranes as a way of using microbial systems to remove contaminants.

Doctoral candidate Lance Shideman examines a fouled memebrance surface form a hybrid adsorption-membrane process used for water treatment.		Assistant Professor Charles Werth is developing new catalysts to convert inorganic ions to harmless substances, so substances such as nitrate and bromate which cause health problems in drinking water can be rendered harmless in more effective ways. Assistant Professor Robert Sanford will also participate as an investigator. Additional research projects will be announced as plans for the center evolve, Snoeyink says. The work of the center will be globally relevant, says Snoeyink, pointing to the water problems of Singapore to explain the ways in which the center’s research will be beneficial. “We have many countries that do not have a sustainable water supply, like Singapore,” he says. “Singapore gets about half of its water from Malaysia, and now negotiations for continuing the contracts seem to be in trouble. So a major issue in front of Singapore right now is how to get additional water.
“They’re looking very carefully at the water they do have and how they can make that a sustainable supply. They could do it by reclaiming drinking water from wastewater, so they would treat the wastewater in such a way that they could take the product of the treatment system and add it to the water that goes into their drinking water plants, mix it up and use that as an additional potable supply. Another possibility is to look to some of the other, poorer-quality sources of water that they have on the island of Singapore and develop treatment techniques that enable them to economically use those sources of supply. Lastly, desalination of water: they have ocean all around them. They could take all the water they want out of the ocean, but they need good, economical ways to take salt out of ocean water. “All of the things that we’re talking about as far as the goals of the center—new materials, new water treatment systems—would be things that could fit into the needs of a country like Singapore.” Because the issues surrounding the world’s water supply are continually evolving, center investigators foresee an ongoing need for research. For this reason, they hope to identify additional sources of funding to sustain the center after it graduates from NSF support. “We are always going to have new problems that we find we have to study,” Snoeyink says. “Water problems are magnified as populations grow and new products are made that find their way—somehow, some way—into our water supplies. Our water supply issues are going to be with us for as long as there is life on earth.” ? For more information, visit http://www.watercampws.uiuc.edu.