Techno-economic analysis to identify key innovations required for electrochemical oxidation as point-of-use treatment systems

Abstract

Electrocatalytic-driven processes show promise for water purification, including abating persistent organic pollutants via advanced oxidation processes. Since the early 90s, thousands of research articles have systematically explored degradation of organic pollutants in batch systems and synthetic waters. Despite these research efforts, commercial treatment units for water treatment in the field are barely reported. Translation of scientific and technological advances into the market place requires identification of niche applications. Here we consider point-of-use devices. Techno-economic analysis (TEA) of electrochemical oxidation was benchmarked against commercially-available competition in the water purification sector, specifically carbon block adsorption devices. Results identified electrode material as one of the driving capital costs. Decreasing boron-doped diamond cost by ten-fold or exploring alternative emergent materials such as Ti4O7 can enhance competitiveness of electrochemical devices in the market. Meanwhile, the first-order rate constant was identified as one of the most relevant parameters because it affects operational expenses. Strategies to enhance target pollutant selectivity in real water matrices is a research need to ensure efficient water purification with minimum electrical energy requirements. TEA showed a promising scenario for electrocatalytic devices to overcome commercially-available technologies. This initial TEA identified key challenges and research needs to overcome cost limitations and to beat traditional systems in reliability in the road map towards market implementation.