NWRI Clark Prize Lecture Cites Nanotechnology's Water Disinfection Benefits

The 2012 National Water Research Institute (NWRI) Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize recipient, Pedro J.J. Alvarez, Ph.D., P.E., DEE, of Rice University, highlighted the opportunities of nanotechnology to develop next-generation applications for drinking water disinfection and safe wastewater reuse at the Nineteenth Annual NWRI Clarke Prize Lecture and Award Ceremony, held by NWRI on Friday, Nov. 2, 2012, in Newport Beach, Calif.

An environmental engineer, Alvarez focused his 2012 Clarke Prize Lecture on the topic of Convergence of Nanotechnology and Microbiology: Emerging Opportunities for Water Disinfection, Microbial Control, and Integrated Urban Water Management. Nanotechnology is an emerging field that involves the use of technology at the molecular level (at dimensions between 1 to 100 nanometers; for reference, 1 nanometer is 40,000 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair).

According to Alvarez, one area of water treatment that has significant potential to be improved by nanotechnology is microbial control. Microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria, and protozoa are the leading cause of waterborne disease worldwide. In the U.S. alone, over 100 outbreaks and 5,000 recent cases of illness were caused by waterborne pathogens; the problem is worse in developing countries. Public health, however, is not the only area impacted by microorganisms. They can also increase costs and affect critical operations in the industrial sector. For instance, the oil and gas industry spends over $2 billion a year addressing biocorrosion caused by microbes.

Some nanomaterials have antimicrobial properties, which can be used to enhance existing treatment processes or develop new processes for microbial control. According to Alvarez, certain nanoparticles can directly inactivate microorganisms using a wide variety of mechanisms, such as damaging cell membranes or DNA. Others act indirectly by producing secondary products that serve as disinfection agents.

In addition to having antimicrobial properties, many nanoparticles have “desirable properties for water and wastewater treatment,” said Alvarez, including:

• Highly specific surface are for adsorption.
• High catalytic activity to destroy recalcitrant pollutants.
• Superparamagnetism for particle separation and reuse.
• Optical and electronic properties to develop selective sensors for water quality monitoring.
• No production of disinfection byproducts.

Click here to download a copy of the lecture.

Source: NWRI