This is a presentation from the Water Industry Operators Association (WIOA) Conference in April 2018. It is based on a feasability study into sustainable odour control

1. Solar Odour Control
WIOA NSW Conference – April 2018
Duncan Reynolds
R&D Manager / Regional Marketing

2. Our Project Goal
Establish Proof of Concept and feasibility of
products/processes which:
• Perform the function of odour control for a wide
range of sewage gases
• Are cost-effective to the Utility/Council

3. Our Project Goal (cont)
• Can be sourced from within Australia
• Ideally be disposed of without landfilling (measured by Life
Cycle Assessment)
• Manufactured within Australia:
 providing employment in the growing Advanced
Manufacturing sector
 compliance with relevant statutory requirements

4. Our Project Goal (cont)
Titanium dioxide (Ti02)
Engineered Nano Materials
(ENMs) were chosen for further
investigation

5. Background Science
Figure 1:
An illustrative photocatalytic
oxidation process for
VOCs and chemical equation
OH + VOC + O2  nCO2 + mH2O

6. Engineering
Ideal onsite process conditions:
1. H2S levels < 15 ppm
2. Gas flowrates < 5 L/s
3. UV-A irradiation > 5 mW/cm2
4. Temperature between 60-80 ˚C

7. Engineering (cont)
5. Humidity < 20% RH
6. Ph > 9
7. Borosilicate glass, UV transmissible reactor cover
8. Periodic backwashing with mildly alkaline fluids

8. Engineering (cont)
Figure 2:
Sample photoreactor from an
EU-Funded pilot study
European Experiment:
• UV bulbs set on a timer
side-mounted to the unit
• Bulbs were activated
during non-daylight hours
(Portella, 2012).

9. Commercial Applications
Different particle sizes
for different
applications eg liquid
and gas-phase
applications
LEFT RIGHT

10. Commercial Applications (cont)
LEFT RIGHT

11. SVSR Methylene Blue (MB) Experiment
When MB is contacted with irradiated TiO2, the hydroxyl
radicals generated lead to a reduction in the blue colour

12. SVSR Methylene Blue (MB) Experiment (cont)
(a) After 1 minute exposure (b) After 25 minutes exposure
Experiment:
Visually monitoring 2 samples using sunlight (Sydney, Nov 2017)

13. Sustainability and Life Cycle Assessment
Table 4. World Rankings of Australia’s Ti02 resources and
production as at December 2016
World
Ranking for
Resources
% of World
Resources
World
Ranking of
Production
% of World
Production
Rutile 1 50 1 42
Ilmenite 2 19 3 13

14. Conclusion and Areas for future research
SVSR’s preliminary research identified the following areas
requiring future research:
• Assessing non-photonic forms of activation energy
e.g. electrical current provided by DC photovoltaic panels
• Quantifying required change-out periods

15. Conclusion and Areas for future research (cont)
• Detailed Life Cycle Assessment, including trials for:
 Manufacturing process
 Better understanding their environmental fate eg in
biosolids or natural surface waters
 Detailed characterisation of spent TiO2 ENMs to assess
their suitability for incineration and/or reuse

16. Conclusion and Areas for future research (cont)
Source: Brar, S. K. et al (2010)

17. Any Questions?
Duncan Reynolds
R&D Manager / Regional Marketing
Duncan@svsr.com.au