Pulsed power technology for water and wastewater treatment

Abstract

The presence of recalcitrant and hazardous water pollutants poses a serious challenge to conventional water treatment technologies and is motivating the development of advanced treatment approaches like pulsed power technology (PPT). One application of PPT is to generate plasma that can be used for the efficient and rapid degradation of a wide range of emerging water pollutants, including dyes, pesticides, toxic solvents, and pharmaceuticals, and for the disinfection of water and wastewater. Plasma-based water treatment utilizes electrical discharge plasmas formed in contact with or in the vicinity of water to degrade chemicals within the contaminated water. Plasma in these conditions can produce a diverse range of highly reactive species, including strong oxidants (•OH) and reductants (eˉaq), which are suitable for the simultaneous oxidation and reduction of the organic compounds present in highly complex wastewater such as industrial effluents. PPT exhibits the advantages of fast pollutant degradation kinetics, relatively low energy input, and the absence of chemical additives, making it a promising alternative water treatment technology. The increasing demand for water treatment technologies for treating hazardous chemicals with no/minimal generation of secondary pollutants may accelerate the adoption of safe and energy-efficient technologies like PPT.