Luke Zappia Jean-Philippe Croue

Senior Water Treatment Advisor

Water Corporation of Western Australia

Treatment advances and contributions

toward SDG by 2030.

Curtin University

Western Australia

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A frontier R&D project to better understand two emerging treatment technologies

(CEC and clathrate desalination).

“Improve strategic resilience and empower industry uptake”

CEC project milestones delivered in 3 work packages:

I. lit review [assess potential application in utility scale operations]

II. laboratory tests [oxidation and by-product (DBP/toxicity/radicals)

mechanisms, reaction pathways]

III. field trials [reliability/maintenance, energy, real WQ challenge testing –

pre-treatment (aesthetics) and disinfection (LRV).

Background

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Electrochlorination?

+ve -ve

anode cathode

reduction oxidation

DC NaCl + H2O + energy → NaOCl + H2

TI/RuO2,

Ti/IrO2,

Ti/Pt-IrO2

Ti/PdO

H2

N2

CO2 Cl 2

- , S

O4

-

Feed water

(>30ppm Cl)

~ 3K

ppm

Cl

Brine EC NaOCl

flow

Dosing

pump

𝟐𝑪

𝒍→

𝑪𝒍 𝟐

+𝟐

𝒆−

𝟐𝑯

𝟐𝑶

+𝟐

𝒆−

→𝟐

𝑶𝑯

−+

𝑯𝟐

𝐻𝑂𝐶𝑙 ←→ 𝐻+ + 𝑂𝐶𝑙−

R&D CEC

Batch EC

Horrocks - CEC

Reuse - CEC

Field - 5 regions

Metro - G/W WTP

Regional WA – challenging operations in spatial and temporal WQ extremes

As

TDS

Na

CCPI

Si

NO3

Cl

oC

metals

Pathogens AOM [DBP]

TDS

CCPI

oC

pH

metals

Cyn

toxins NTU

pH

oC Pathogens

VOC

metals

NO3

Cl

Cl

Cl

NH3

Surface/GW

GW

GW

Surface/GW

Parameter Low High Design

flow (m3/hr) 4.6 16.5 25

energy (V) 12 45 45

energy (Amp) 43 90 100

Fe-Total (mg/L) 1 17.5 TBD

Mn-Total (mg/L) 0.04 2.12 TBD

Conductivity (uS/cm) 387 821 TBD

NOM (mg/L) 0.4 33.8 TBD

CEC test rig

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Lab scale CEC

M S

M

CEC test rig

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y=0.0004e0.0846x

R²=0.69381

0

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Cl2/Cl-m

olarratio

Voltage(V)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

15' 7 days 15' 7 days

Peppy Low Energy Peppy High Energy

THM

co

nce

ntr

atio

n (

nm

ol/

L) TCM BDCM

DBCM TBM

Chemistry

Microbiology

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• E.coli >6 LRV

• Bacillus >6 LRV

• T4 Phage >5 LRV

• Legionella SG1 and

B. pseudomalei

(TBC)

(Cl-F ~1.0mg/L, Ct<0.5m)

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Toxicity

Comparison of ECIR1.5 with AREc32 of different water types. a (Escher et al., 2014); b (Neale et al., 2012); c (Neale et al., 2017); d

(Neale et al., 2015); e(Farré et al., 2013), f (Hebert et al., 2018a)

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Energy

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

kW

h / k

g-C

l

chloride (ppm)

0 100 200 300 400

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18 80 Amps

60 Amps

40 Amps

20 Amps

10 Amps

kW

chloride

Upper

Explosive

Limit (UEL)

75%

Lower

Explosive

limit (LEL)

4%

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Horrocks GWTP

Gen 3 cells

AC - 240 10Amp

DC - 24V 100Amp

DS - 25m3/h

Pre - 8mg/L

Disinfection – 4 mg/L

Nom min velocity 1/m sec

Pre-treatment DS~ 2 x 4 Disinfection DS~ 2 x 1

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The role of collaboration in your research?

Industry uptake and advance – incremental foundation science and engineering

Partner Curtin (chemistry/microbiology), Uni Tubingen (toxicology), Hydro-dis (vendor),

Aroona (alliance partner), Leicon, other contractors/services, DoH (regulator)

and other industries (RT, BHP, FMG).

Empower internal business units (WQB, Engineering, Planning, Regional Operations,

M&E, R&D) and broader industry.

Deliver confidence and investment in EC

education and training

advocate and maintain industry best practice legacy

Create opportunities for customers to share and improve industry experience

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The impact research is expected to have?

Corporation Strategy

Safe for all: Reduce/eliminate manual handling of hazardous materials/chemicals

(I.e. chlorine gas, NaOCl, CaOCl ,and in some instances other chemicals

used to adjust pH – E.g. NaOH, soda ash, Ca(OH)2, CaCO3, CaCl2).

Improved planning (eliminate Cl gas buffer restrictions)

Lowest environmental impact: Green technology reduce reliance on existing

source water supply (brackish, reuse, WW), lower logistical impacts

(fuel/roads), energy recovery (hydrogen reuse or recombination).

Lowest total cost: Lower CapEx and OpEx (pre treatment and disinfection), salt is

cheap, easy to use and operate, small foot print

Paradigm shift away from traditional higher impact treatment chemicals

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How research findings will be implemented to ensure the

impact is achieved?

1. translated and embed findings into engineering design specifications,

WQ WSP, operational WI.

2. link contribution to corporate strategies.

3. involve stakeholders (from exec to field staff) and apply learnings and

training as part of the research process.

4. recognise achievements (publications, conference, workshops, awards).

5. bridge academic/industry knowledge and understanding.

6. contribute to customer focus – deliver better services

7. involve your regulator and bring them along the journey with you

Uptake successfully integrated - EC now part of the Corporations treatment

asset fleet.

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What opportunities does this research generate for the Water

Sector (beyond it’s immediate uptake)

SDG6 – clean water and sanitation

6.1 safe affordable water

CEC safe, just as effective as other oxidants and cheaper to operate

6.2 sanitation and hygiene

Inline technology with low foot print (Mukinbudin BEC successful).

6.A expand international cooperation and capacity building support

India CEC PV in operation

Vietnam CEC PV in operation

SDG 7 – affordable and clean energy

7.B expand clean efficient infrastructure

EC successful at POU to larger scale operations

SDG 9 – build resilient infrastructure, promote industrialisation and foster innovation

9.4 enhance scientific research – upgrade technological capabilities

SDG 11 – sustainable cities and communities

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Industry and Research acting local but closing gaps in global sustainability

Prof Jean-Philippe Croue (Cutrin)

Prof Elizabeth Watkin (Cutrin)

Dr Josh Ramsay (Curtin)

Mr Ratesh Permagala (Curtin - PhD cand.)

Mr Viktor Kesners (Curtin - Hon)

Mr Stephen O’Neil (Water Corp)

The CEC Team

Any

questions?

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