德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin

From Sea Water to Dr德赢ac米兰官方合作vwink德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing Water: Resolv德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing World's Water Shortage Updated 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin April 2020

Our Earth is often called the Planet of Water. About 70 percent of the surface is covered 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin water, most of which 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin the form of seawater and glaciers, with only 0.01 percent of freshwater available for liv德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing and 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwindustrial use. Under JST's Center of 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinnovation (COI) program, Sh德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinshu University Global Aqua 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinnovation Center is develop德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing a water treatment membrane that can remove impurities conta德赢ac米兰官方合作vwined 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin water us德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing nanocarbon fibers and material separation technology. The project is run through an 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwindustry-academia-government collaboration, and aims to produce freshwater from seawater, to purify contam德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinated water, and to create a future where everyone everywhere can access an abundance of clean water.

Nanocarbon─The Key to Solv德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing Water Shortages

Water is 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwindispensable for human life. Demand for water 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwincreases as populations grow, as the climate changes, and as economies develop. Effective use of limited water resources is an urgent issue. At present, more than 1.1 billion people, especially 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin Africa and Asia, are not able to secure safe dr德赢ac米兰官方合作vwink德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing water. There is a particular shortage of agricultural water—approximately 900 million people are malnourished due to 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinsufficient access to food. Also needed are more advanced solutions to deal德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing with water pollution from 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwindustrial wastewater and resource production sites.

“The goal is to develop affordable technology that produces clean fresh water from a variety of sources, and to build a society with a sound water cycle to support safe and healthy liv德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing,” said Project Leader and Technology Advisor Dr. Tsuzuki Koichi of Sh德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinshu University's COI (Center of 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinnovation) hub. “Much more water available if we can efficiently remove impurities from seawater and groundwater. Unsanitary water kills; so much so that it is estimated that average life expectancy will grow by two years if we can just secure more clean water for the world.”

One key technology that the JST-funded research hub at Sh德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinshu University is develop德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing is a water treatment membrane us德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing nanocarbon. Nanocarbon is a very tough, state-of-the-art carbon material with excellent electrical, thermal and chemical properties. The research team is led by Sh德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinshu University Specially Appo德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinted Professor Dr. Endo Mor德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinobu. He is one of the first to pioneer mass production technology for carbon nanotubes (CNTs), a type of nanocarbon.

“My 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwintuition really pushed me to make major technological 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinnovations 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin nanocarbon film research,” he said.

At the Sh德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinshu University site, companies handl德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing nanocarbon materials, water treatment membranes, desal德赢ac米兰官方合作vwination plants, and research 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinstitutions specializ德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin computer chemistry are all participat德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin this project. By comb德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing the world's best technologies, development is underway for 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinnovative, functional water treatment membranes and systems 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin which they can be used. The ultimate goal is “Aqua 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinnovation” (Fig. 1).

A Strong Film to withstand Clogg德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing from Impurities

Seawater accounts for over 97% of the Earth's water. One desal德赢ac米兰官方合作vwination technology, the RO (reverse osmosis) membrane method, utilizes the pr德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinciple of osmotic pressure. Membranes with countless f德赢ac米兰官方合作vwine pores only allow water molecules to pass through, allow德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing impurities like salt to be filtered from seawater (Fig. 2).

The RO membrane method has become the ma德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinstream technology 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin seawater desal德赢ac米兰官方合作vwination. Seawater desal德赢ac米兰官方合作vwination plants us德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing RO membranes are popular especially 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin Middle Eastern countries, many of which have few natural freshwater resources. But there are drawbacks—one is called foul德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing, which happens when membranes become clogged over time as non-salt impurities like seawater m德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinerals and microorganisms accumulate. This causes a decl德赢ac米兰官方合作vwine 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin the system's ability to produce fresh water. Regular clean德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing is therefore necessary, but chlor德赢ac米兰官方合作vwine agents can damage the film. Another drawback is that a large amount of electricity is needed to produce the pressures required to filter seawater; thus, dissem德赢ac米兰官方合作vwination of the technology 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin develop德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing countries and regions has been slow. Expectations are high for a durable or robust membrane resistant to dirt, and a treatment system that can desal德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinate at low cost.

Experiments and Computer Chemistry Help Create Guidel德赢ac米兰官方合作vwines for Material Design

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are expected to play a key role 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin suppress德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing foul德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing. Polymer film material called polyamide (PA) is typically used 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin creat德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing RO film. Mix德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin CNT changes the pore structure and the electronic state of PA, which prevents the 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwintrusion of salts and allows more water to pass through.

However, previous experiments have only been able to mix 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin CNT at a rate of 0.1%. It was extremely difficult to disperse the CNTs and mix them evenly throughout the PA material.

“By only mix德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin a small amount of CNTs, we cannot benefit from CNTs' excellent properties,” says Dr. Endo. “I thought that if we mixed 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin more, we could make a more durable membrane.” By comb德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing technology that detangles CNT fibers with conventional th德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin-film-form德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing tech, the team succeeded 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin develop德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing and patent德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing a unique nanocomposite film-form德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing technology. 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin 2015, the team succeeded 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin creat德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing a nanocarbon composite RO membrane which can evenly disperse CNTs 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin PA at a rate over 100 times higher than previous products. As predicted by Dr. Endo, not only was it possible to obta德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin high resistance to foul德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing and high water-permeation, but it was also found to be resistant to chlor德赢ac米兰官方合作vwine (Fig. 3). S德赢ac米兰官方合作vwince the product life is now prolonged, ma德赢ac米兰官方合作vwintenance costs can be reduced. S德赢ac米兰官方合作vwince its launch 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin 2013, Sh德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinshu University has published numerous papers on such high-performance composite membranes.

德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin order to obta德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin a higher-performance film, Dr. Endo surmised that it would be necessary to know how water molecules and ions 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinteract with the CNT film at the atomic level aside from the foul-resist德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing and chlor德赢ac米兰官方合作vwine-resist德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing mechanisms. Thus, a supercomputer was used to simulate the precise behavior of water molecules as they 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinteracted with the composite membrane (Fig. 4). It was found that water molecules formed an ultra-th德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin layer called “德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinterfacial water” on the film's surface, which acted as a cover to prevent an assortment of impurities from stick德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing to the membrane. 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin addition, the decreased pore size of the film prevented penetration from further impurities. The results were consistent with experiments us德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing real materials, 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinclud德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing the PA molecular arrangement around the CNTs, and the effectiveness that smaller pores had on prevent德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing the 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwintrusion of impurities.

“By 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwintroduc德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing computer chemistry for the first time, it has become possible to quickly determ德赢ac米兰官方合作vwine guidel德赢ac米兰官方合作vwines for material design, 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin addition to do德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing the complex analysis of nanocarbon films, both of which were difficult 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin the past. Now we are pursu德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing R&D based on both experimental and computational chemistry to set guidel德赢ac米兰官方合作vwines for film design,” Dr. Endo says. A more precise material design has become possible. 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin the future, a high-performance film will be stable 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin several different types of water. The goal is to improve the membrane's functionality so that it can be used 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin next-generation water treatment membranes with wider scopes for application.

Pilot Test for Practical Use

“Nanocarbon composite RO membranes are so robust that there is plenty of room to enter the market,” says Project Leader Dr. Tsuzuki. For practical use, the team is work德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing on prototypes that are similar to products at their own manufactur德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing facilities (Fig. 5).

德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin April 2019, a pilot test for a seawater desal德赢ac米兰官方合作vwination system us德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing the nanocarbon composite RO membrane was launched at Water Plaza Kitakyushu 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin Fukuoka Prefecture (Figure 6). It aims to solve systemic problems by modulariz德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing the composite membrane and 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwincorporat德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing it 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin a pilot plant. “S德赢ac米兰官方合作vwince the state of the sea changes greatly depend德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing on the season, we plan to conduct a pilot test over the course of a year. By us德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing real seawater, we will evaluate the performance of the composite membrane and discuss potential obstacles,” Dr. Tsuzuki expla德赢ac米兰官方合作vwined.

Dr. Endo also has high hopes for this pilot experiment. “Unless you are fully committed it will be impossible to collaborate with the private sector to put this technology to practical use. We must come up with great results 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin terms of both performance and cost to comply with strict corporate standards.” Estimates show that us德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing composite membranes can cut seawater desal德赢ac米兰官方合作vwination costs by 37% and water process德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing costs by 25% compared to conventional desal德赢ac米兰官方合作vwination systems.

Contribution to the local community is also one of the university's missions. Dr. Tsuzuki proposes to “dig around for new market needs by 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinstall德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing a platform at our hub and mak德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing ourselves available to local companies who want to take part 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin this project,” proposes Dr. Tsuzuki. Recently, this technology is under consideration for use 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin the food 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwindustry to improve concentration processes.

Utiliz德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing a Variety of Water Sources
A New 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwindustry from Japan

德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin the future, experts 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin the field will develop a water treatment system us德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing nanocarbon composite RO membranes not only for seawater, but also to separate out oils derived from m德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing fossil fuels or natural gas, or materials that are commonly found with water, 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinclud德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing organic matter, br德赢ac米兰官方合作vwine/saltwater from lakes, marshes or groundwater, domestic/德赢ac米兰官方合作vwindustrial wastewater or sewage.

One example is an adsorbent that uses molten salt nanomaterials to remove harmful heavy metals from groundwater. S德赢ac米兰官方合作vwince 2018, a water quality survey has been conducted 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin Tanzania (Fig. 7). “德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin Tanzania, geological formations have caused fluor德赢ac米兰官方合作vwine to enter groundwater 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin some areas, caus德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing health problems to those who drank it,” says Dr. Tsuzuki. Fluoride b德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinds to calcium and thus affects bone growth. Similar problems have occurred 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin various countries and regions like 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwindia and Bangladesh. “We've begun a jo德赢ac米兰官方合作vwint project with a university 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin Tanzania to remove fluor德赢ac米兰官方合作vwine 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin groundwater and create safe dr德赢ac米兰官方合作vwink德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing water, us德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing technology from the JST-funded research hub at Sh德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinshu University. We are also work德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing on a jo德赢ac米兰官方合作vwint project to tra德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin scientists and technicians to ensure water quality.”

Dr. Endo speaks passionately about his future dreams. “We are try德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing to commercialize this water treatment system quickly and to establish it as a new 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwindustry from Japan.” Nagano Prefecture, the home of Sh德赢ac米兰官方合作vwinshu University, is the source of eight rivers that provide top quality dr德赢ac米兰官方合作vwink德赢ac米兰官方合作vwing water. "Because we were born and raised 德赢ac米兰官方合作vwin an area blessed with such water resources and know what really good water tastes like, we want to deliver clean and safe water to people all over the world,” he says. His strong determ德赢ac米兰官方合作vwination is what drives the R&D of this project.