A great project indeed!
1. I assume the solar panel is meant to expose the water (and bacteria in it) to solar radiation and heat? What are the transparent tubes made from?
2. SODIS call for >50C for 1h combined with solar irradiation and this combination is indeed importants (see attached paper). I can easily see how you reach the temperature (I use solar water heating at home), but how do you carry on exposure to solar energy for an hour with large volume of water?
3. What about fouling of the chemical) transparent tubes?
4. And a last one, how do you do quality control on eradication of pathogens?
Yoram
Dear Yoram
Thank you for your questions.
As fara as I can recall, in one of the reactors, the tubes are made from methacrylate plastic while the other is standard borosilicate glass.
Regarding the dose per volume. We previously published a paper (Keogh et al. 2015 attached) which demonstrated full inactivation in 20L water cooler bottles and another paper (Ubomba-Jaswa et al. 2010 attached) showing the relationship between solar dose and inactivation.
We are currently field testing the reactor prototypes in Almeria Spain so we will be able to answer the question regarding fouling soon.
In addition to the reactor, one of our partners (Helioz, Austria) is also developing an enhanced version of their WADI dose sensor which we will calibrate against a variety of bacterial, viral and protozoan pathogens under real sunlight conditions. Consequently the water is only released from the reactor after it has received a full "lethal" dose of solar radiation
Sincerely
Prof. Kevin G McGuigan PhD DSc FInstP FRSC
Project Coordinator
WATERSPOUTT Project
EU Contract H2020-2016-RIA-688928
Dept. of Physiology and Medical Physics
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
123 St. Stephen's Green
Dublin 2
Ireland
Thanks! I'm very interested in your methacrylate experience, how did it last as scratches and fouling go?
Also did you consider adding immobilized TiO2 as was done with SODIS - as was demonstrated by Gelover et al.?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16949121
Dear Yoram,
TiO2 have suitable to destroy pathogen, many papers about that experiment was published. I was used methacrylate of methyl to built my photoreactor, I think it is a safe and good material to perform solar exposure experiment.
Yoram
I will direct your question regarding field experiences with methacrylate to Dr Pilar Fernandez-Ibanez in Plataforma Solar de Almeria, since that is her area of expertise.
Regards
Kevin
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