A treatability sensor for water quality monitoring and treatment

Research Project, 2023 – 2028

To increase the sustainability of drinking water production, treatment plants must become more efficient. Diagnosing the optimal operational conditions for water treatment requires real-time information on the composition of dissolved chemical substances in water, since chemicals vary in their susceptibility to treatment processes. However, sensors that diagnose the chemical composition of water are lacking today. This project addresses this gap, by developing and demonstrating novel sensors for diagnosing the composition and treatability of water in real-time. In so doing, the project addresses several widely observed barriers to optimising water treatment: (1) predicting when activated carbon filters will become exhausted and lose their capacity to strip out micropollutants, (2) detecting low-level pollution from petroleum products, (3) determining the minimum chemical dose for coagulation treatment, and (4) managing membranes to prolong their lifetimes. The industrial stakeholders in this project, including water producers and a water conservation agency, will benefit from greater oversight of the systems they need to manage. The solutions to be developed have high potential for global scaling and impact, and their commercialisation by participating start-ups will improve the efficiency and sustainability of water treatment in Sweden and abroad.