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ABSTRACT
This project supports the second Phase (five years) of the Water Equipment and Policy I/UCRC (WEP) headquartered in Southeastern Wisconsin, which is home to more than 150 local and international companies serving the water industry. Co-located at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Lead institution) and Marquette University, the WEP research center serves as a catalyst for synergizing regional and global assets to create the next generation of products and processes to advance the water industry. WEP research focuses on creating new sensors and devices, novel materials, innovative water treatment systems, and water policies that will help change the way the world manages its acutely stressed water resources. The new sensing technologies will address major drawbacks of the existing water contaminant detection methods to provide early warning of water contamination and avoid catastrophes. New materials and processes are proposed for water conveyance systems which could reduce energy and water loss due to corrosion and leakage from water pipes. Projects focusing on water treatment systems will lead to new water filtration and reuse technologies through efficient and low-cost removal of contaminants. The water policy-related projects will develop policy components to assess risks, promote benefits, and identify opportunities to advance water technology. The envisioned projects will benefit potential and current WEP I/UCRC industry companies by enabling new or additional capabilities for their water equipment to increase product performance, market share, profits, and job creation. The proposed program aims to train the current and future workforce at the frontier of water equipment and policy. The proposed education plan also features proactive efforts to improve entrepreneurial engineering education; to attract underrepresented students, including women and minorities, into Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields; to integrate research and education; and to broadly disseminate water research and educational findings.
Envisioned WEP projects can potentially lead to game-changing water technologies and policies to safeguard our water quality with sustainable approaches. WEP PIs will carry out research to advance water technologies in real-time sensors for detection of water contaminants, self-cleaning and self-healing materials that can reduce energy consumption and water leakage in water equipment and distribution systems, innovative water treatment systems that can address emerging contaminants while reducing energy and cost, and water policy that can inform policy makers. A portfolio of real-time sensing technologies has been proposed which includes optical fiber technology, single live cell technology, electrochemical technology, acoustic wave technology, and field-effect transistor technology. Novel surface microstructures and high-performance superhydrophobic concrete and coatings are proposed to minimize maintenance cost and pumping energy for water components. Self-healing and wear-resistant coatings are proposed to reduce water leakage. Novel photocatalytic nanomaterials are proposed for water treatment. Several technologies are proposed to address emerging contaminants such as pathogens and micropollutants and an advanced, rapid wet-weather treatment process is proposed to safely treat stormwater. A localized model will be developed to predict nutrient transport in Lake Michigan and inform decision making to minimize algal blooms, beach closures, and clogging of water intakes. Research also will be carried out to identify and analyze policy obstacles and opportunities to develop, commercialize, and expand emerging water technologies and intensive urban aquaculture projects.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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(Showing: 1 - 10 of 20) (Showing: 1 - 20 of 20)Tong, Y., Mayer, B.K., McNamara, P.J. "Triclosan adsorption using wastewater biosolids-derived biochar" Environ. Sci.: Water Res. & Technol. , v.2 , 2016 , p.761
Heffron, J., Mayer, B.K. "Emerging investigators series: virus mitigation by coagulation: recent discoveries and future directions" Environ. Sci.: Water Res. & Technol. , v.2 , 2016 , p.443
Heffron, J., Mayer, B.K. "Removal of trace metal contaminants from potable water by electrocoagulation" Scientific Reports , v.6 , 2016 , p.1
Ross, J., Zitomer, D., Miller, T., Weirich, C., McNamara, P. "Emerging Investigator Series: Pyrolysis removes micropollutants from biosolids" Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology , v.2 , 2016 , p.282
Tong, Y., Mayer, B, McNamara, P. "Biosolids as a Resource: Using Biochar Derived from Pyrolyzed Biosolids to Remove Trace Organic Contaminants" Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation Residuals and Biosolids Conference , 2016
Ross, J., McNamara, P, Zitomer, D. "Pyrolysis: An Emerging Biosolids Treatment Process to Remove Trace Organic Contaminants" Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation. Presented at WEFTEC, Chicago, IL, September 30 , 2015
B. Davaji, G. Biener, V. Raicu, and C.H. Lee "In-Vivo Single Cell Protein Interaction Investigation Using Microfluidic Platform" Transducers 2015, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, June 21-25 , 2015
Heffron, J., Marhefke, M., Mayer, B.K. "Removal of trace metal contaminants from potable water by electrocoagulation" Scientific Reports , v.6 , 2016 10.1038/srep28478
Heffron, J., Mayer, B.K. "Emerging Investigator Series: Virus mitigation by coagulation: Recent discoveries and future directions" Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. , v.2 , 2016 , p.443 10.1039/C6EW00060F
Venkiteshwaran, K., McNamara, P.J., Mayer, B.K. "Meta-analysis of non-reactive phosphorus in water, wastewater, and sludge, and strategies to convert it for enhanced phosphorus removal and recovery" Science of the Total Environment , v.644 , 2018 , p.661
Benn, N., and Zitomer, D. "Pretreatment and Anaerobic Co-digestion of Selected PHB and PLA Bioplastics" Front. Environ. Sci. , v.5 , 2018 , p.1 10.3389/fenvs.2017.00093
Liu, Z., Zitomer, D., McNamara, P. "Synergistic Thermal Processing of Dry Sludge Chaff and Incinerator Ash for Energy and Resource Recovery" Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation, Residuals and Biosolids Conference 2018. , 2018 , p.1
Benyamin Davaji , Hak Dong Cho , Mohamadali Malakoutian , Jong-Kwon Lee , Gennady N. Panin , T.W. Kang, and Chung Hoon Lee "A patterned single layer graphene resistance temperature sensor" Scientific Reports , 2017
Strifling, D. "Integrated Water Resources Management and Effective Intergovernmental Cooperation on Watershed Issues" Mercer Law Review , 2018
Maher, E., O'Malley, K., Heffron, J., Huo, J., Wang, Y, Mayer, B., and McNamara, P. "Removal of estrogenic compounds via iron electrocoagulation: impact of water quality and assessment of removal mechanisms" Environmental science: water research & technology , v.5 , 2019 , p.956
Seyedi, S., Venkiteshwaran, K., Benn, N., and Zitomer, D. "Inhibition During Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Aqueous Pyrolysis Liquid from Wastewater Solids and Synthetic Primary Sludge" Sustainability , v.12 , 2020 , p.https://d
Venkiteshwaran, K., Benn, N., Seyedi, S., and Zitomer, D. "Methane Yield and Lag Correlate with Bacterial Community Shift Following Bioplastic Anaerobic Co-digestion" Bioresource Technology Reports , v.7 , 2019
Strifling, D.A., McDonald, W., Hathaway, H., and Naughton, J. "Overcoming Legal and Institutional Barriers to the Implementation of Innovative Environmental Technologies" Notre Dame Journal of Emerging Technologies , v.1 , 2020 , p.280 https://ndlsjet.com/overcoming-legal-and-institutional-barriers-to-the-implementation-of-innovative-environmental-technologies/
Hira, A., Oh, S., Medeiros, H., Richie, J., and Lee, C. "On-site in-situ continuous detection ppb-level metal ions in drinking water using block loop-gap resonators and machine learning" IEEE transaction on instrumentation and control , v.NA , 2022
Naughton, J., Parolari, A.J., Strifling, D., McDonald, W.M. "Barriers to active controls of stormwater systems" Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment , 2022
(Showing: 1 - 10 of 20) (Showing: 1 - 20 of 20)
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The NSF I/UCRC Water Equipment and Policy Center brought together university researchers and water industries to perform pre-competitive tech research. Univerity partners included Marquette University and The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee - two universities separated by only 5 km. The goal was to support the water tech industry and to train the next generation of water professionals who were engaged as both graduate and undergraduate STEM student researchers on funded R&D projects, At the end of this Phase II project,, over $3.5 million in water research was conducted via 67 individual projects that involved more than 10 water-related copanies working with 127 students researchers and 30 faculty members . The intellectual merrit of the project involved advancement of engineering and science for novel processes, materials, sensors and policy analysis regarding water equipment. The work resulted in 22 Invention disclosures and 13 technology licenses. Results will be used to advance technologies for broader impacts of providing clean water and protecting our water resources while supporting industry-driven tech R&D infrastructure. The project resulted in a successful continuation of the center as a Phase III I/UCRC and planning is under way for the center to continue beyond the Phase III funding period.
Last Modified: 12/13/2022
Modified by: Daniel H Zitomer
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