Break
AIChE Annual Meeting
2022
2022 Annual Meeting
Materials Engineering and Sciences Division
AIChE Inorganic Materials Graduate Student Award, Sponsored by Chevron
Tuesday, November 15, 2022 - 4:30pm to 4:50pm
Our cube is designed to not only remove contaminants from water but also for sustainability. It uses two primary methods to clean and disinfect the water. First, the water flows through physical filters, including an activated carbon filter. Then, the water is treated with an aqueous sodium hypochlorite solution to treat bacteria and viruses.
Activated carbon's surface characteristics allow it to attract organic and other non-polar compounds. It has a large inner surface area with micro-pores that allows it to have high adsorption capacity for dissolved organic matter.
To address microorganisms - especially viruses - in drinking water, our process utilizes sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) as a chemical disinfectant. When dissolved in water, sodium hypochlorite breaks down into Na+ and OCl-, which reacts with water to form HOCl. Both HOCl and OCl- kill bacteria and viruses via oxidative protein unfolding, denaturing microorganisms' proteins, which kills/damages them.
Activated carbon's surface characteristics allow it to attract organic and other non-polar compounds. It has a large inner surface area with micro-pores that allows it to have high adsorption capacity for dissolved organic matter.
To address microorganisms - especially viruses - in drinking water, our process utilizes sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) as a chemical disinfectant. When dissolved in water, sodium hypochlorite breaks down into Na+ and OCl-, which reacts with water to form HOCl. Both HOCl and OCl- kill bacteria and viruses via oxidative protein unfolding, denaturing microorganisms' proteins, which kills/damages them.