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Adsorption Materials
[Activated Carbon Fibers]
[Ion Exchange Fibers] [Chelating Fibers] [Membranes] [Porous Inorganic
Fibers] [Gas Adsorption Membranes]
Over the past decade it has become abundantly clear that the USA and world
face major threats to our water supplies. These problems have come about from
a number of factors including, uncontrolled depletion of our aquifers as well as
contamination of our rivers and lakes from agricultural runoff, industrial
effluents, acid rain and waterborne pathogens from untreated water. At the
same time we are witnessing unusual
drought conditions in many parts of the USA and the world probably
associated with global warming. Today, approximately 1.1 billion people in
developing countries do not have access to clean water. Children are at
greatest risk ( e.g. 37 children die every 10 minutes due to water
contamination).
By the year
2015, it is predicted that water, not energy or food will become the major resource problem in the USA and
world. The uncontrolled building of dams on major rivers, will also lead to
serious disputes between nations over water rights. By the year 2025, the
stress on water supplies will become further exacerbated by continued
population growth and global change in climate.
As noted recently in National Geographic
in Sept. 2002, the population explosion over the past 300 years has resulted
in a 45 fold increase in water usage
from approximately 100 cubic kilometer of freshwater / year to 5000 in the
year 2000. Currently, irrigation
accounts for ~ 70 % of water use, industry consumes 20%, and the remaining 10% is for domestic use.
Another problem
concerns the cost of renewal of the existing water infrastructure in the USA. It is
estimated that the costs of replacing
and upgrading both the water and wastewater treatment facilities could
approach $ 1 trillion over the next 15-20 years, a prohibitively expensive figure even for the USA .
During the past
several decades, research in industry aimed at addressing the need for
improved desalination systems, elimination of foulants and removal of trace
contaminants has been sharply reduced.
Hence, most processes used today in water purification resemble
closely the technologies in use 10-30 years ago. In August of 2002, the NSF
established a Science and
Technology Center at the University
of Illinois on Advanced
Materials for Water Purification. The
goal was to stimulate research on new materials that would provide low-cost,
highly efficient systems for producing potable water from the oceans and from
waste water. This program is just now getting underway and hopefully will
begin to make an impact in the next few years.
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