13 August 2012

ONR awards SETi $1.6m to develop portable UV LED water purification systems

Ultraviolet light-emitting diode (UV LED) maker Sensor Electronic Technology Inc (SETi) of Columbia, SC, USA has been awarded a program from the US Office of Naval Research (ONR) to develop a self-contained portable water purification system incorporating UV LED technology for water quality monitoring and disinfection.

The program’s goal is to develop a portable unit that can provide a small team of warfighters with a self-sustainable source of potable water from any fresh water source.

Stand-alone UV LED water disinfection efficacy has already been demonstrated at SETi through a program funded by the National Science Foundation. However, this demonstration has been designed for commercial use and will not meet the needs of the warfighter. To achieve compliance with the rigorous standards of NSF P-248, SETi has teamed up with Cascade Designs Inc (CDI) of Seattle, WA to combine novel mechanical filtration technologies with the effective disinfection of UV LEDs. 

The system will also use SETi’s UV LEDs to monitor the water quality, optimizing the system efficiency and effectiveness. SETi says that, through funding the program, ONR has demonstrated its commitment to a new type of water purification system that will benefit from the advantages of UV LEDs, making it smaller, more robust and lower power than anything currently available and reducing the need for chemical disinfectants such as chlorine and iodine.

SETi says that the system has major implications for improving the self sufficiency of warfighters in mobile operations.  “Modern warfighters assume many risks on the battlefield; drinking contaminated water should not be a concern,” says Cody Reese, program manager at ONR.  “UV LEDs have the potential to revolutionize water disinfection at all scales, with a marked improvement to safety, durability, and energy consumption - from the mouth-piece of an individual drink tube, all the way to commercial-scale water treatment plants.”

Via a DARPA development program, SETi recently announced eight-fold efficiency improvements in LEDs operating in the germicidal wavelength range. “It will lead on from our successes in DARPA and other military programs to develop a military application based on this new technology,” president & CEO Remis Gaska.

During the project CDI will be focusing on designing novel filtration techniques to complement SETi’s UV LED disinfection reactor.  CDI provides water treatment systems and, with its hydration product brands MSR and Platypus, is also a supplier of portable water treatment systems to the military. “UV LEDs will become a compelling disinfection technology component in the creation of safe drinking water both for our troops and the general public,” believes the firm’s president Joe McSwiney.

Other members of the development team include the University of Colorado’s department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (led by professor Karl Linden) and the Institute of Applied Research at Vilnius University, Lithuania (led by professor Arturas Zukauskas).  The team at University of Colorado is focused on research related to advanced treatment technologies for water and, with a rich history in UV systems, will assist in modeling water flow and light distribution from the LEDs to optimize the efficacy of the UV chamber.  With a history of integrating SETi LEDs into optical monitors and spectrometers, Vilnius University will assist in developing an optical water quality monitor that will measure the microbial level in the water and adjust the system accordingly.

Tags: Sensor Electronic Technology UV LEDs Water purification

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