Eliminating Contaminants From Drinking Water or Fluids Using Pulsed Corona Discharges

The use of high oxidation methods to eliminate contaminants from drinking water or fluids is an attractive and efficient approach. Earlier work (Sharma et al., 1993) has shown the elimination of highly toxic contaminants such as phenol and more recently fumic traces (Smith, 2004) and proteins from water fluents (Ibaņez, 2004). Pulsed corona high oxidation can be enhanced by adding either oxygen, in order to produce high active radicals, or iron to increase the effectiveness by the presence of the photo-Fenton reaction.

In this research proposal, we are interesting in determining the efficiency of the method in application such as sanitation of drinking water or other related fluids such as fruit juices. In particular, the technique has a low heat generation and leads to negligible or moderated temperature increases. This option is highly desirable as an alternative to high temperature methods such as pasteurization. Both organic and biological contaminants will be tested experimentally to determinate the ability of pulsed corona in eliminating them and leading to a safe drinking product.