Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation has emerged in the past years as one of the best water purification alternatives, with manymajor cities in Canada, USA, and Europe adopting UV as their primarydisinfection process. Ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV-LEDs) could potentiallyrevolutionize water treatment systems by replacing UV mercurylamps, given the trend observed in LEDs recent performance enhancement and cost reduction.The proposed strategic project aims to develop the new generation of UV reactors operating with UV-LEDs. We will direct our efforts towards a comprehensive studyto investigate the fundamentals of inactivation of various pathogens byUV-LED. We will develop integrated computational models to simulate the performance and applythe model to UV-LED reactor design. Finally, we will fabricate, operate, and assess UV-LED photoreactors for water purification.Our team collectivelyhas over 25 years of experience in industryand academia on the development and application of UV reactors for water purification. We have strong support and partnership with three Canadian UV companies, contributing industrial expertise and providing a potential pathwayto commercialization of the technology.We expect this project to result in the development of the next generation of UV photoreactors, which could potentiallybe marketed within a short few years of the completion of the project. The financial benefits, potentiallyamounting to millions of dollars, will likelybe capitalized upon byCanadian manufacturers of UV reactors with worldwide sales.