The applicant of this project is haizhou LIU, PH.d., department of chemical and environmental engineering, university of california, riverside, CA 92521

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation awarded a $391,660.68 Cooperative Agreement to the Regents of the University of California, Riverside (UC Riverside) under the Water Desalination Research and Development program (CFDA 15.506). The goal of this 2-year project is to test a novel vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light-driven photochemical process for treating nitrate and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from inland desalination brine. The project will develop an innovative VUV system to overcome limitations of traditional VUV water treatment, with the aim of achieving complete destruction of nitrate and PFAS. Laboratory-scale testing will be conducted at UC Riverside in partnership with regional water authorities to optimize the technology, verify performance, and enable future full-scale implementation. The successful completion of this project is expected to lead to cost-effective and sustainable inland concentrate management, improved membrane system performance, and reduced operational costs, energy consumption, and environmental impacts of inland desalination systems.

Applicant location: riverside county, CA. Project location: riverside county, CA.the goal of this project is to test a novel and laboratory-scale vacuum ultraviolet light (VUV, wavelength 185 NM)-driven photochemical process for treatment of nitrate and perfluoroalkyl substances (pfass) from inland desalination brine. The success of this project will lead to cost-effective and sustainable inland concentrate management, improve membrane system performance, and reduce operational costs, energy consumption and environmental impacts of inland desalination systems. VUV light is a clean and energy-efficient medium that directly photolyzes water to a pool of energetic radicals. The traditional application of VUV system for water treatment is limited by an unreactive environment. This project will develop an innovative VUV system that overcomes the deficiencies, and elucidate the unique mechanism for a complete destruction of nitrate and pfass. The lab-scale testing will be conducted at the university of california, riverside (UCR), in partnership with santa ANA watershed project authority (sawpa), which operates one of the largest inland brackish desalination brine disposal system, and orange county water district (ocwd), which operates the largest advanced membrane-based water reuse facility nationwide. Preliminary research at UCR has demonstrated the potential feasibility of a vacuum UV-based technology for brackish desalination brine disposal, and the findings have the potential to change the landscape of possibilities for desalination and water reuse treatment. Further evaluating the technology at the laboratory scale is the necessary next step in process optimization, technology verification and future full-scale implementation. Funds will be used primarily for the costs of research personnel and experimental activities. The project contributes to accomplishing multiple objectives of this notice of funding opportunity, including the development of innovative desalination technologies and cost-effective approaches for concentrate management that minimize potential environmental impacts, and better understanding of the formation of hazardous transformation products during water reuse. The length of the project will be 24 months, with an estimated project period of july 1, 2023 through june 30, 2025.