Water Production and Treatment Unit

- Objectives -

The Water Production and Treatment Unit (WPWT) has as a main objective the development of cutting-edge research in the fields of solar-driven water production and water treatment. The WPWT Unit focuses on:

(i) developing cutting-edge research in the fields of solar-driven water desalination production and zero-liquid discharge to achieve a sustainable integrated seawater treatment chain for the production of fresh water and raw materials;

(ii) Solar-driven water treatment, through the design, construction and assessment of new concepts of solar photoreactors for diverse applications, e.g. industrial and urban wastewater decontamination and disinfection

- Topics -

The main topics of the unit are:

Photovoltaic powered – Reverse Osmosis (PV-RO) desalination
Vacuum-enhanced air-gap Membrane Distillation for fresh water production from brines and its coupling with solar thermal energy under dynamic conditions
Brine treatment processes for raw materials recovery and Zero Liquid Discharge
Development, demonstration and testing solar-based water treatment technologies using direct solar irradiation