AQWATEC

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RESEARCH

My research interests include the following areas of environmental engineering: physical processes; separation processes; membrane technologies for water treatment and wastewater reclamation; thermally-driven membrane processes for desalination, stripping, and energy recovery; osmotically-driven membrane processes for water pretreatment, water augmentation, and for process energy reduction; industrial and domestic water reuse; zero-liquid-discharge technologies for desalination processes, energy conservation and recovery in engineering applications.

Current funded research

• Assessment of Hybrid Sequencing Batch Reactor – Membrane Bioreactor Process for Treatment and Reuse of Domestic Wastewater in Small Communities (Aqua-Aerobic Systems, Inc.)

• Assessment of Osmotic Mechanisms Pairing Desalination Concentrate and Wastewater Treatment (Texas Water Development Board)

• An Integrated Framework for Treatment and Management of Produced Water (US Department of Energy/Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA))

• Guidelines for Implementation of Seawater and Brackish Water Desalination Facilities (Awwa Research Foundation)

• CO-RADS: Colorado Radionuclide Abatement and Disposal Strategy Engineering and Waste Disposal Evaluations (State of Colorado)

• A Novel Hybrid Forward Osmosis Process for Drinking Water Augmentation using Impaired Water and Saline Water Sources (Awwa Research Foundation)

• Critical Assessment of Implementing Desalination Technology (Awwa Research Foundation)

• A Novel Hybrid Membrane Desalination Process with Minimal Pretreatment and Concentrate (California Department of Water Resources)

• Zero-Liquid Discharge Systems for the Recovery of Cooling Tower Water in Geothermal Power Plants (US Department of Energy/National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

Past research

• Advanced Development of the Direct Osmotic Concentration System (National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA))

• Innovative Treatment Technologies for Natural Waters and Wastewaters (US Department of Energy)

• Evaluation and Selection of Available Processes for a Zero-Liquid Discharge System for the Perris, California, Groundwater Basin (US Department of the Interior/Bureau of Reclamation)

• Using Forward Osmosis for Concentration of Anaerobic Digestion Centrate (Cities of Reno and Sparks, Nevada)

• Direct Contact Membrane Distillation for Desalination: Pilot Scale Application and Modeling of a New Approach for Flux Enhancement (Phase II) (US Department of Defense/Office of Naval Research (ONR))

Research at AQWATEC

Research activities at AQWATEC are directed to  advance research and development of novel water treatment processes and hybrid systems to enable sustainable and energy efficient utilization of impaired water sources to provide potable and non-potable water supplies.  Our focus areas include:

• Advanced natural systems for elimination of emerging contaminants from the environment
• Traditional and novel membrane separation processes for water purification, reuse and desalination including zero-liquid discharge
• Development of multiple-barrier hybrid processes to provide more efficient water treatment systems
• Advanced concepts in decentralized water treatment facilities
• Development of more efficient water treatment systems for the industrial and renewable energy sector

Our current activities include:

• Viability of nanofiltration and ultra-low pressure RO membranes for indirect potable reuse applications
• Beneficial reuse of co-produced water using capacitive deionization (CDT) and high-pressure membrane technologies
• Optimizing coagulation/flocculation processes through state-of-the-art floc particle characterization
• Contributions of household chemicals to sewage and their relevance to municipal wastewater systems and the environment
• Evaluation of river bank filtration systems to optimize removal of bulk organic matter, emerging organic micropollutants, and nutrients
• Development of indicators and surrogates for chemical contaminant removal during wastewater treatment and reclamation
• Development of surrogates to determine the efficacy of groundwater recharge systems for the removal of trace organic chemicals
• Zero-liquid discharge systems for the recovery of cooling tower water in geothermal power plants
• A novel hybrid membrane desalination process with minimal pretreatment and concentrate
• Desalination product water recovery and concentrate volume minimization
• Critical assessment of implementing desalination technology
• A novel hybrid system to increase recovery and lower energy costs in treatment of recycled water and ocean desalination

AQWATEC faculty currently sustain a research funding base of over $4.5M via active grants and contracts from AwwaRF, WERF, WRF, NSF, Cal DWR, DOE, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, NREL, and private industry.