Non-traditional Water Sources Research Articles

Water Resource Recovery Facilities Empower the Electrolytic Hydrogen Economy.

The global transition to net-zero emissions necessitates the integration of clean hydrogen as a key solution. To facilitate the required expansion of clean hydrogen production, sustainable water sources are required to support the electrolysis process. Utilizing nontraditional water sources such as water resource recovery facility (WRRF) effluents could potentially alleviate the water constraints and create cobenefits, but the real-world feasibility has not been explored in depth. Here, we investigated the geospatial interplay between WRRFs and H2 users in a clean hydrogen economy. We developed an optimization framework for contiguous U.S. that would identify H2 users-WRRF pairing through techno-economic constraint and multicriteria decision analysis, and we found that utilizing reclaimed water from WRRFs could save 66% (62-99%) of freshwater for clean hydrogen economy while accumulating $758 (275-1162) million annual national cost savings. The added benefits from H2 users to WRRFs such as pure oxygen aeration would provide a compelling new opportunity for infrastructural symbiosis but warrant a future investigation on its technical and economic feasibilities.

Green Hydrogen Production From Non-Traditional Water Sources: A Sustainable Energy Solution With Hydrogen Storage and Distribution.

Green hydrogen development plays an essential role in creating a sustainable and environmentally conscious society while reducing reliance on traditional fossil fuels. Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysers (PEMWEs), are sensitive to water quality, with various impurities impacting their efficiency, the quality of the hydrogen produced, and the device's lifespan. High-purity water is required for PEM electrolyzers; Type II water, which is required for commercial electrolyzers, must have a resistivity greater than 1 MΩ cm, sodium, and chloride concentrations less than 5 μg/L, and total organic carbon (TOC) content less than 50 parts per billion. The majority of electrolyzers operate on freshwater, or total dissolved solids (TDS) <0.5 g/kg, whereas brackish, rainwater, wastewater, and seawater have TDSs of 1-35 g/kg, 0.01-0.15 g/kg, 0.5-2 g/kg, and 35-45 g/kg, respectively. This critical review offers, for the first time, a comprehensive overview of relevant impurities in operating electrolyzers and their impact. The findings of this study indicate that electrolysis-based H2 processes are promising options that contribute to the H2 production capacity but require improvements to produce larger competitive volumes. In addition, the main challenges and opportunities for generating, storing, transporting, and distributing hydrogen, as well as large-scale adoption are discussed.

Activated date carbon: a sustainable solution for Pentachlorophenol adsorption in reused wastewater

Industrial wastewaters contain persistent and toxic organic compounds that pose a significant risk to public health and the environment upon release. Phenol and its derivatives are examples of such pollutants. Activated carbon, often sourced from unconventional materials like plant biomass, provides a sustainable solution for treating wastewater. This research focuses on creating activated carbon from date nuts through chemical activation with phosphoric acid. The effectiveness of this carbon in removing pentachlorophenol (PCP) from secondary wastewater (SWW) is evaluated. The analysis of the date nut activated carbon (DAC) includes studying its adsorption capacities for iodine and Methylene Blue, surface functional groups, and the point of zero charge (pHpzc) compared to a commercial activated carbon (CAC). The DAC demonstrates promising adsorption capacities, with values of 368.03 mg/g for iodine and 619.9 mg/g for Methylene Blue, which are close to those of the CAC (444.17 mg/g and 620.25 mg/g, respectively). Both DAC and CAC exhibit acidic surface functionalities, with pHpzc values below 10. The efficiency of PCP removal from SWW contaminated with PCP (100 mg/L) reaches 78% within 72 hours. This study indicates that using DAC for PCP removal from SWW is a sustainable approach for wastewater treatment, potentially allowing for the reuse of non-traditional water sources.

The Multifaceted Perspective on the Role of Green Synthesis of Nanoparticles in Promoting a Sustainable Green Economy

The current economic development paradigm, which is based on steadily rising resource consumption and pollution emissions, is no longer viable in a world with limited resources and ecological capacity. The “green economy” idea has presented this context with a chance to alter how society handles the interplay between the environmental and economic spheres. The related concept of “green nanotechnology” aims to use nano-innovations within the fields of materials science and engineering to generate products and processes that are economically and ecologically sustainable, enabling society to establish and preserve a green economy. Many different economic sectors are anticipated to be impacted by these applications, including those related to corrosion inhibitor nanofertilizers, nanoremediation, biodegradation, heavy metal detection, biofuel, insecticides and pesticides, and catalytic CO2 reduction. These innovations might make it possible to use non-traditional water sources safely and to create construction materials that are enabled by nanotechnology, improving living and ecological conditions. Therefore, our aim is to highlight how nanotechnology is being used in the green economy and to present promises for nano-applications in this domain. In the end, it emphasizes how critical it is to attain a truly sustainable advancement in nanotechnology.

Improving irrigated maize (Zea mays L.) production with saline agricultural drainage water using drip irrigation system and organic mulches: Field study and simulation modelling

Due to the scarcity of fresh water in dry areas, including Egypt, emphasis has been placed on the importance of studying non-traditional water sources as an alternative source of irrigation. Therefore, this research aimed at investigating the impact of saline agricultural drainage water, drip irrigation and organic mulching using rice straw on maize water productivity under Egypt’s arid condition. The field experiment included sixteen treatments during two seasons, 2022 and 2023. Irrigation systems were [Furrow irrigation system (FIS) and drip irrigation system (DIS)] while saline agricultural drainage water strategies were [FW (0.55 dS/m), SW1 (1.35 dS/m), SW2 (3 dS/m) and SW3 (5 dS/m)] represented as sub main plot and organic mulching using rice straw (OMRS) was also investigated. The highest MY values were achieved with DIS with FW and also with irrigation with salty agricultural drainage water, with the necessity of using organic mulches of rice straw. The highest MY values were achieved as a result of achieving the best water-salt balance within the root propagation zone. The highest values were 10.89 t/ha with FW and there were no significant differences between them and the values of 10.83 t/ha when irrigated with saline agricultural drainage water for 2022 and the similar results were achieved during the 2023 season. Based on the above, SW1 can be used directly without mixing with FW1 if the ability of the grown plant to tolerate the level of salinity concentration, with the necessity of using organic mulches. The SALTMED model simulated reasonably well the soil moisture and soil salinity as well as maize yield and for all treatments, with R2 of 0.87, 0.98 and 0.96, respectively.

Novel method of poly aluminum chloride extraction from kaolin and its application for wastewater treatment

Most water resources are consumed by agriculture, particularly in developing countries. Consequently, the volume of wastewater from agriculture accounts for the majority of non-traditional water sources. This work extensively tackled the extraction, production, characterization, and application of leached poly aluminum chloride (PAC) from kaolin as a natural material to inhibit the pollution of water resources. The hydrochloric acid concentration percentage, pH, flux rate of HCl, and contact time were evaluated as factors controlling the output of leached PAC as (Al2O3). FTIR, XRD, and SEM were utilized to characterize the produced PAC as a novel material subsequently used in the treatment of agricultural wastewater. The empirical results revealed that the water treated with PAC™ complied with international standards and had no substantial variation in the dissolved ions. While employing PAC™, the maximum removal of turbidity, TSS, TOC, Nitrogen content and COD in agricultural wastewater reached 96.25%, 96.4%, 90%, 87.5%, and 75%, Whereas, the maximum removal of turbidity, TSS, TOC, Nitrogen content and COD in agricultural wastewater reached 95%, 95%, 80%, 84.4%, and 75%, respectively when using C-PAC. In conclusion, the use of PAC™ prepared from kaolin in agricultural wastewater treatment should be expanded as a low-cost and high-quality coagulant that protects the reverse osmosis membranes and mitigates the environmental impact of their disposal.

Evaluating reuse of nontraditional water sources in agriculture and food production utilizing a scientometrics approach

Climate change is proving to be detrimental for agriculture and food production by depleting natural resources such as irrigation water. Researchers and growers are turning to alternative sources of irrigation water. Growers are potentially willing to accept nontraditional sources, provided they meet the chemical and microbial standards of existing sources. To help identify research gaps and suggest future research directions, a thorough analysis of existing literature needed to be done. The aim of this study was to categorize and analyze existing research on water reuse found on the Web of Science database using a scientometrics approach. The publication dataset comprising 3072 titles, published between 1990 and 2022, was analyzed for keywords and co-occurrence of commonly used phrase groups. The global and year-wise trends in publications were mapped and graphed to identify which countries were actively researching water reuse and whether the number of publications were progressing significantly per year. The highly cited publications were also analyzed for their content to understand what differentiated them from the other publications. Our results indicated that the numbers of publications have increased considerably over the years from 1990 to 2022 with a potential to further increase by 2060, indicating a growing interest in the area of water reuse. The global distribution of publications indicated that researchers across the globe have identified this as a potential future strategy and are actively working to understand various aspects of water reuse in agriculture and food production by using experimental and modeling based study methods. The current focus is on reclaimed water and roof harvested rainwater with other prospective sources being investigated. The findings indicate that a multidisciplinary approach is required to understand the multifaceted aspects of reusing nontraditional water sources as irrigation water for food crops. Based on our study, we suggest that collaborations between academic research, agricultural industries and government agencies could lead to the integration of nontraditional water sources as irrigation water, helping to alleviate the negative effects of climate change.

High-efficiency and low-carbon inactivation of UV resistant bacteria in reclaimed water by flow-through electrode system (FES)

With the increasingly serious shortage of water resources globally, it has been paid more attention on how to secure the biosafety of reclaimed water and other non-traditional water sources. However, the 3 most applied disinfection technics, which are chlorine, ultraviolet (UV), and ozone disinfection, all have their disadvantages of selecting undesired bacteria and low energy utilization efficiency. Electrode disinfection is a promising solution, but the current electrode disinfection process still needs to be optimized in terms of the use conditions of the configuration reactivation. In this paper, we built a flow electrode system (FES). To evaluate the disinfection techniques more precisely, we isolated ultraviolet-resistant bacteria (URB) bacteria from the water of the full-scale water plant and tested the disinfection performance of FES and UV. The inactivation rate, reactivation potential, and energy consumption were analyzed. FES could inactivate 99.99 % of the URB and cause irreversible damage to the residual bacteria. FES could make all bacteria strains apoptosis in the subsequent 24 h of storage after alternating pulse current (APC) treatment, 3 V, within 27.7 s. Besides, the energy consumption of FES is about 2 orders lower than that of UV disinfection under the same inactivation rate. In summary, APC-FES is an efficient and low-carbon alternative for future water disinfection, which could achieve the ideal disinfection effect of a high inactivation rate, no reactivation, and low energy consumption.

When Coordination Polymers Meet Wood: From Molecular Design toward Sustainable Solar Desalination.

Solar-driven interfacial evaporation harnessing solar energy on a water surface provides a sustainable and economic means to efficiently capture freshwater from nontraditional water sources. Endowed with a hierarchical porous structure and mechanical stability, wood-based evaporators represent a renewable alternative to petroleum-based materials. Nonetheless, incidental inferiorities of a low evaporation rate and weak interfacial strength are challenging to overcome. Herein, we propose the usage of chemically stable coordination polymers (Ni-dithiooxamidato, Ni-DTA) as hydrophilic photothermal nanomaterials for the molecular design of robust wood-based evaporators with improved performance. In situ synthesis of Ni-DTA onto the channel wall of balsawood provides sufficient photothermal domains that localize the converted energy for facilitated interfacial evaporation. A rational control of methanol/dimethylformamide ratios enables the coexistence of 1D-nanofibers and 0D-nanoparticles, endowing Balsa-NiDTA with a high evaporation rate of 2.75 kg m-2 h-1 and an energy efficiency of 82% under one-sun illumination. Experimental and simulation results reveal that Ni-DTA polymers with strong hydration ability decrease the equivalent evaporation enthalpy induced by decreased H-bonding density of water molecules near the evaporation interface. The Balsa-NiDTA evaporator showed a high chemical stability, mainly due to the robust Ni-S/Ni-N bonds and the superior cellulose affinity of Ni-DTA. Furthermore, the Balsa-NiDTA evaporator shows an excellent antibacterial activity and low oil-fouling propensity. This work presents a facile and mild strategy to design chemically stable wood-based evaporators, contributing to highly efficient and sustainable solar desalination under harsh conditions.

A field assessment of residential laundry to landscape greywater quality in the San Francisco Bay area

Abstract Potable water scarcity is a global issue. Recent and ongoing droughts in the Western United States make residential water conservation crucial. Several water agencies have invested in conservation programs that educate residents on non-traditional water sources, such as laundry-to-landscape (L2L) greywater systems, which reuse washing machine water for outdoor irrigation. This study analyzed landscape vegetation and 21 greywater characteristics of 30 households with L2L systems in Santa Clara County, California. Greywater from most residential systems, even ones decades-old and unmaintained, had acceptable reuse values for major water quality parameters tested. Overall, 89% of fecal coliform counts fell within the acceptable range for water reuse, although counts were higher in non-code-compliant systems than in code-compliant L2L systems. The mean values for coliform counts, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, total organic carbon, magnesium, sodium, chloride, and sodium adsorption ratio were lower than the means previously reported for L2L systems. Analysis of water samples indicated high levels of iron and calcium, which merits further investigation. Outdoor vegetation appeared diverse and healthy. The promising results here indicate a high potential for expanding L2L programs. Wider system adoption can diversify regional water supply in service areas where the residential sector accounts for significant water use.

Identifying Opportunities for Nonpotable Water Reuse Based on Potential Supplies and Demands in the United States

Water scarcity threatens the well-being of individuals, the natural environment, and economic systems that function within society. Faced with growing and evolving water supply concerns, many utilities and industries have relied on nontraditional water sources to mitigate severe shortages and combat water quality concerns. Treated municipal wastewater can serve as a reliable supply of water at a predictable quality and quantity and is especially well-suited for nonpotable end uses. In this work, we identify areas within the contiguous United States where water reuse projects are possible on the basis of existing supplies of treated wastewater at known qualities and quantities, estimated nonpotable demands, and state-level policies that outline water quality requirements for reuse. We use publicly available data to develop a geographic information system-based supply-demand assessment that identifies spatial trends and areas of interest for locally focused water reuse analysis. We find that the feasibility of water reuse is highly sensitive to existing state-level policies and the level of wastewater treatment currently in place. Nonpotable recycled water can potentially offset significant water withdrawals within communities where specific policy and technical criteria are met.

Recycled Wastewater Usage: A Comprehensive Review for Sustainability of Water Resources

Water recycling is a potential tool for reducing the dependency on traditional water sources, which would eventually reduce the likelihood of volumetric restrictions and their impacts on the water sector. Therefore, exploration, development, and use of alternative water sources are required for sustainable development. Scientific studies on the efficient and economical use of nontraditional water sources developed using the recycling process have attracted the attention of agriculturists, planners, and engineers for the last two decades. Recycled wastewater types, including greywater, sewage, stormwater, and industrial wastewater, have been discussed in this study. This article reviewed various forms of recycled wastewater, especially wastewater from treated sewage, and their effects on human health and irrigated environment. In addition, the necessity of exploration and usage of alternative sources of water in agriculture over traditional sources has also been reviewed. Legislations and guidelines of three major countries regarding the water recycling process and subsequent use have also been presented. The key finding of this article is that the agriculture and water recycling industry can only be connected sustainably when recycled wastewater complies with agronomical, environmental, and sanitary requirements. Because of the rapid advancements in wastewater recycling technologies, water recycling and recycled water usage have great potential to manage the increasing burden on freshwater resources. Finally, the sustainable use of recycled wastewater is crucial to minimize the negative effects on agriculture, the environment, and human health.

A novel green hydrogen production using water-energy nexus framework

The transformation of electrical energy to hydrogen via water electrolysis consumes considerable amount of fresh water and a productive use of nontraditional water sources enhances the reliability and resilience of energy and water systems. In this study, we have designed a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) system which is an evolving hydrogen production technology at high temperatures for water electrolysis. The SOEC uses steam generated from flue gas as its feedstock and is fully integrated with numerous power production units, including coal and natural gas-fired power plants as its energy feedstock. While there is a hasten global shift away from fossil fuel, integrating its asset into this technology helps limit the risk and future losses of stranded assets and reduce the cost of investment in the new technologies. But high capital expenditures and doubt concerning the future cost and efficiency upgrade are obstacles to investing inwater electrolysis. Such a detailed Levelized cost of hydrogen and techno-economic analysis is conducted to show the viability and environmental impacts of this novel technology. The results show SOEC efficiency of 97.4 % and 56.3 % as thermal-to-hydrogen efficiency of the system with a daily hydrogen production of 242,400 kg at $2.9–3.5/kg H2. The estimates show a positive gain prospect in this technology and techno-economic challenges.

A Review on Water Desalination Technology and Economics

Water is essential for life on earth. There were civilizations everywhere there was water. The issue of severe freshwater shortage on Earth results from the planet's limited freshwater resources, quickly growing human population, and improving living standards (mainly due to industrial and agricultural advancement). Numerous studies and research programs have focused on the future of the water situation and the quest for non-traditional water sources, such as desalination. Desalination has been regularly employed since the 1960s. Major technologies have improved efficiency, dependability, and cost since then. MSF served as the standard thermal technique for many years. The most advanced thermal process is MEE. However, it is not commonly employed. Since reverse osmosis (RO) has surpassed MSF as the most popular desalination method, it needs to be used as a standard. Desalination technology costs have significantly decreased over the past 30 years due to research and development that has reduced energy usage and improved design. Table 1 lists desalination methods according to their anticipated prices. Most of the costs associated with desalination are related to capital expenditure and energy prices, whereas expenses like operation and maintenance are almost constant.

Atmospheric Water Harvesting with Metal-Organic Frameworks and Their Composites: From Materials to Devices

Clean water scarcity is deteriorating because of the growing population and water pollution. New methods to harvest freshwater from non-traditional water sources are urgently required to address this global issue. The atmosphere contains abundant water resources. Harvesting fresh water from the air has become an emerging and attractive approach, among which sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) is the most promising method, as it demonstrates high water producibility, wide applicability and low energy consumption. Metal-organic frameworks (MOF) are a class of emerging porous materials characterized by their large specific surface area, adjustable pore structures and chemistry. Recently, hydrolytically stable MOFs have been used as sorbents in AWH, and several MOF-based prototyping devices have been demonstrated with great practical potential. In this review, we briefly summarize the recent progress on the MOFs and their derived composites as AWH sorbents. Then, we introduce several most representative devices using MOFs for practical applications. Finally, the challenges and perspectives of this emerging field are discussed.

Mining Nontraditional Water Sources for a Distributed Hydrogen Economy.

Securing decarbonized economies for energy and commodities will require abundant and widely available green H2. Ubiquitous wastewaters and nontraditional water sources could potentially feed water electrolyzers to produce this green hydrogen without competing with drinking water sources. Herein, we show that the energy and costs of treating nontraditional water sources such as municipal wastewater, industrial and resource extraction wastewater, and seawater are negligible with respect to those for water electrolysis. We also illustrate that the potential hydrogen energy that could be mined from these sources is vast. Based on these findings, we evaluate the implications of small-scale, distributed water electrolysis using disperse nontraditional water sources. Techno-economic analysis and life cycle analysis reveal that the significant contribution of H2 transportation to costs and CO2 emissions results in an optimal levelized cost of hydrogen at small- to moderate-scale water electrolyzer size. The implications of utilizing nontraditional water sources and decentralized or stranded renewable energy for distributed water electrolysis are highlighted for several hydrogen energy storage and chemical feedstock applications. Finally, we discuss challenges and opportunities for mining H2 from nontraditional water sources to achieve resilient and sustainable economies for water and energy.

An Improved Emergy Analysis of the Environmental and Economic Benefits of Reclaimed Water Reuse System

Reclaimed water, a nontraditional water source, has become a desirable choice for meeting the increasing demand in areas with water shortages. However, the environmental and economic benefits of reclaimed water reuse systems (RWRSs) are unclear. Therefore, we conducted this study to assess the environmental performance of RWRSs based on emergy analysis. Notably, the emergy index system was improved by incorporating the environmental impacts of air emissions. The results show that the improved emergy indicator system was more rigorous than the traditional emergy index system. The environmental loading ratio and the emergy sustainability index of the studied system based on an improved emergy index system was 0.202 and 30.01, respectively. The environmental economic value was 3.52 × 1020 sej/y. The results show that the RWRS has good sustainability, and high environmental and economic benefits. Compared with two other RWRSs (Scenario A in Zhengzhou City and Scenario B in Chongqing City) and one seawater desalination system (Scenario C in Qingdao City), it is found that RWRSs are preferred as a way to obtain water resources over seawater desalination under the same water quality conditions. It is also important to select an appropriate treatment process according to the raw water quality and reclaimed water use in the practical application.

Coupled DNA-labeling and sequencing approach enables the detection of viable-but-non-culturable Vibrio spp. in irrigation water sources in the Chesapeake Bay watershed

Nontraditional irrigation water sources (e.g., recycled water, brackish water) may harbor human pathogens, including Vibrio spp., that could be present in a viable-but-nonculturable (VBNC) state, stymieing current culture-based detection methods. To overcome this challenge, we coupled 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling, enrichment techniques, and 16S rRNA sequencing to identify metabolically-active Vibrio spp. in nontraditional irrigation water (recycled water, pond water, non-tidal freshwater, and tidal brackish water). Our coupled BrdU-labeling and sequencing approach revealed the presence of metabolically-active Vibrio spp. at all sampling sites. Whereas, the culture-based method only detected vibrios at three of the four sites. We observed the presence of V. cholerae, V. vulnificus, and V. parahaemolyticus using both methods, while V. aesturianus and V. shilonii were detected only through our labeling/sequencing approach. Multiple other pathogens of concern to human health were also identified through our labeling/sequencing approach including P. shigelloides, B. cereus and E. cloacae. Most importantly, 16S rRNA sequencing of BrdU-labeled samples resulted in Vibrio spp. detection even when our culture-based methods resulted in negative detection. This suggests that our novel approach can effectively detect metabolically-active Vibrio spp. that may have been present in a VBNC state, refining our understanding of the prevalence of vibrios in nontraditional irrigation waters.

Improving the climate adaptability of building green retrofitting in different regions: A weight correction system for Chinese national standard

Climate adaptability, including the adaptation to the daily climate, the readiness to face natural calamities, the nurturing of long-term resources and the environment, are part of the goal of building green retrofitting. Setting retrofitting evaluation standards should consider regional diversification due to varying local climate conditions. Based on the entropy method and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP), this study proposes a weight correction system to correct the weights from China's "Assessment Standard for Green Retrofitting of Existing Building." By comparing the corrected weights to the original weights, recommendations for building green retrofitting measures in seven climate zones were put forward. The results indicate that priority should be given to the selection of materials and building envelopes and that site design is the basis for the building climate adaptability. It is imperative that equipment transformation is carried out in cold area and severe cold area. Comprehensive energy and non-traditional water sources can be used in hot-summer and cold-winter area, hot-summer and warm-winter area and mild area. Our research findings can improve the climate adaptability of building retrofit according to regional characteristics while circumventing low-efficiency measures. Furthermore, we discussed the possibility of extending the proposed weight correction system to other countries' standards.

Solar Desalination Using Thermally Responsive Ionic Liquids Regenerated with a Photonic Heater.

Growing global water demand has brought desalination technologies to the forefront for freshwater production from nontraditional water sources. Among these, forward osmosis (FO) is a promising two-step desalination process (draw dilution and regeneration), but it is often overlooked due to the energy requirements associated with draw regeneration. To address this limiting factor, we demonstrate FO desalination using thermally responsive ionic liquids (ILs) that are regenerated using a renewable energy input, that is, solar heat. To efficiently harness sunlight, a simple photonic heater converts incoming irradiation into infrared wavelengths that are directly absorbed by IL-water mixtures, thereby inducing phase separation to yield clean water. This approach is markedly different as it uses radiative heating, a noncontact mode of heat transfer that couples to chemical functional groups within the IL for rapid energy transfer without a heat exchanger or secondary fluid. Overall, a solar-thermal separation efficiency of 50% is achieved under unconcentrated sunlight, which can be increased to 69% with the thermal design. Successful desalination of produced water from oil wells in Southern California highlights the potential of solar-powered IL-FO for energy-efficient and low-cost desalination of complex brines for beneficial water reuse.