Description
Award Name: National Alliance for Water Innovation Budget Period 2 External Selections
Award Amount: $9.47 million
On November 30th, the U.S. Department of Energy, in partnership with the National Alliance for Water Innovation (NAWI) hub, announced the selection of seven projects that will advance NAWI’s strategic goals of improving the energy efficiency of water treatment technologies and the diversification of water supply through the cost-effective utilization of non-traditional water sources across the United States.
Topic 1: Automation and Creation of Smart Water Systems
The development of predictive algorithms for process control and fault detection, with the goal to improve operational performance and efficiency and to optimize maintenance activities through next-generation automation frameworks for water desalination plants.
Topic 2: Precision Separations
Technologies for the removal and/or recovery of specific target compounds of interest from various end-use sectors. This topic focuses on priority contaminants that cannot be removed by existing technologies or require energy-intensive processes. Precision separations would enhance the economic viability and energy efficiency of removing these compounds for non-traditional water reuse.
Projects
NUMBER OF PROJECTS: 7
NUMBER OF STATES CONTAINING SELECTED PROJECTS: 11
FEDERAL FUNDING AMOUNT: $4,804,000
COST SHARE AMOUNT: $4,663,000
TOTAL FUNDING: $9,467,000
| No. |
Project Title |
Project Lead |
Project Partners |
Federal Funding |
Total Cost |
| 1. |
Energy-efficient selective removal of metal ions from mining influenced waters (MIW) using H-bonded Organic-Inorganic Frameworks (HOIFs) |
Rio Tinto Services Inc. |
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Oklahoma, California Department of Water Resources (funding partner) |
$510,000 |
$2,375,000
|
| 2. |
Data-driven fault detection and process control for potable reuse with reverse osmosis |
Carollo Engineers, Inc. |
Yokogawa Corporation of America, National Water Research Institute, US Military Academy West Point, tntAnalysis, Las Vegas Municipal Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, West Basin Municipal Water District, Orange County Water District, Baylor University, California Department of Water Resources (funding partner) |
$235,000 |
$1,034,000 |
| 3. |
Multifunctional membrane for oxyanion removal |
University of California, Berkeley |
Greeley and Hansen LLC, NTS Innovations Inc., California Department of Water Resources (funding partner) |
$0 |
$493,000 |
| 4. |
Copper recovery from mining process waters with ion-selective electrodialysis |
Rice University |
The University of Texas El Paso, Magna Imperio Systems Corp. |
$906,000 |
$1,208,000 |
| 5. |
Novel bipolar membrane assisted electrosorption process for the selective removal of boron |
Yale University |
University of Michigan, Magna Imperio Systems Corp. |
$900,000 |
$1,275,000 |
| 6. |
Redox-mediated electrodes for precision separation of nitrogen and phosphorus oxyanions |
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign |
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Voltea Inc. |
$822,000 |
$1,105,000 |
| 7. |
Selective electrocatalytic destruction of PFAS using a reactive electrochemical membrane system |
University of Illinois, Chicago |
Purdue University, Argonne National Laboratory, M. Davis & Sons Inc., Trimeric Corporation, CDM Federal Programs Corporation, Orange County Water District |
$1,431,000 |
$1,977,000 |
1. Energy-efficient selective removal of metal ions from mining influenced waters using H-bonded Organic-Inorganic Frameworks
This project intends to validate an emerging class of adsorption materials, termed Hydrogen-Bonding-Inorganic Frameworks (HOIFs), as an energy efficient, scalable, and economically attractive alternative to traditional metal extraction routes in acid mine draining.
2. Data-driven fault detection and process control for potable reuse with reverse osmosis
This project seeks to lower the cost of reverse osmosis-based advanced treatment (RBAT) systems by developing new solutions and improving existing technologies to make treatment of non-traditional waters competitive with conventional water sources.
3. Multifunctional membrane for oxyanion removal
This project will develop new technology that uses an integrated reduction-adsorption-filtration process which will enable the use of contaminated groundwater at a significantly reduced cost and energy requirement, while valorizing compounds that would typically be disposed of. Specifically, this project will develop MoS2 membranes that selectively remove chromium and selenium as the targeted contaminants due to California’s new water standards. California Department of Water Resources is providing 100% cost share.
4. Copper recovery from mining process waters with ion-selective electrodialysis
This project will develop an energy-efficient method for the precise separation and recovery of copper ions from mining process water streams through the development and integration of copper-selective membranes in a continuous-flow, electrodialysis process. The produced technology will be a device-scale model tested on real water and the team will provide a detailed economic analysis.
5. Novel bipolar membrane assisted electrosorption process for the selective removal of boron
This project will develop a novel bipolar membrane (BPM) assisted electrosorption technology that can selectively remove boron over competing anionic species. This process is electrified and thus chemical free in operation and increases energy efficiency.
6. Redox-mediated electrodes for precision separation of nitrogen and phosphorus oxyanions
This project will address the challenge of nutrient pollution and resource recovery by overcoming existing limitations of traditional electrosorption materials by designing, developing, and testing efficient and scalable functional redox-polymer electrodes with high selectivity towards nitrate and phosphate.
7. Selective electrocatalytic destruction of "per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) using a reactive electrochemical membrane system
This project will investigate the technical/economic feasibility of utilizing a titanium-based (Ti4O7), nanoparticle electrocatalyst for simultaneous adsorption and destruction of PFAS (a group of pervasive and persistent chemical contaminants) in wastewater.