report
6.3.5 Applications and perspectives

As mentioned in the previous chapter, industrialized countries already have elaborated water treatment systems in operation which will not be replaced unless the new system is significantly less costly or more efficient. Of the methods described in this subsector, photocatalysis and nanofiltration are the closest to the market and may find possible applications – probably not as mass products but maybe for the treatment of certain industrial wastewater. Applications of photocatalytic systems for the treatment of wastewater may be introduced in situations in which no effective or only very expensive systems exist today. But large scale testing is still needed before commercialisation.

Research on nZVI is more focused on application in the ground. If advertised to wastewater or surface water it has to be recovered. The same problem applies also to other nanomaterials that would be released as free particles into the water. Recovery systems would need to be developed (e.g. magnetic particles, centrifugation) which may be expensive and not practical for large scale applications.

Still one product for wastewater treatment can be found on the market: AC Environmental has developed a product called AC Nano (a JNJ Smart-Sorb product) which is supposed to remove heavy metals (lead, cadmium, nickel, zinc, copper, manganese and cobalt) from contaminated soils, groundwater and industrial wastewater. A similar product also addresses arsenic contamination and they are working on a AC Nano-product that will remove mercury. AC Nano is claimed to be non-toxic. Currently, they are working on developing AC Nano that will also remove mercury. Unfortunately, the product is not specified. It could not be found out what kind of nanomaterial is used. One possibility could be nZVI.

(http://www.ac-environmental.com/products/acnano/removing-heavy-metals)

The EU project MEMBAQ is developing biotechnological membranes for water purification by incorporating recombinant aquaporin molecules into industrial membranes. Aquaporins are natural protein channels that transport water through cell membrane. They have unique selectivity and transport only pure water molecules due to their narrow pore diameter that prevents salt and other ions from passing while allowing high permeation rates for water with theoretically up to fifty times greater efficiency than conventional industrial membranes. Potential applications of this technology include water purification and industrial wastewater reclamation and reuse.

http://www.membaq.eu

Nielsen, C.H.: Vandrensning med aquaporiner. Kvant, July (2008) pp. 27-31