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water treatment

WATER TREATMENT

Our industrial scale electro chemical anodes remove PFAS, Ammonia, and recalcitrant COD’s. These are already being used  in pilot and full scale systems by industrial clients in the US, Europe and Asia.

In recent years, electrochemical processes have become increasingly popular for treating polluted waters due to their versatility in degrading a wide range of contaminants, including refractory carboxylic acids and perfluorocarboxylic acids. Compared to other approaches, electrochemical systems offer advantages such as operation at ambient temperature and pressure, robust performance, and the ability to adjust to variations in influent composition and flow rate without requiring auxiliary chemicals or producing waste. Electrochemical processes can be adapted to various applications and easily combined with other technologies, making them attractive for decentralized wastewater treatment.

Magneli Materials has developed coating technology using Ti4o7 and low-cost substrate material to produce anodes that allow Electro Chemical Advanced Oxidation systems to be created for both the drinking water and industrial wastewater treatment industry.

Magneli has two different systems available utilizing our anode technology.   You can read about the two types of electro chemical systems here.

water faucet representing clean water and removal of PFAS and 1,4 Dioxane

REMOVAL OF 
PFAS & 1,4 DIOXANE

PFAs and 1,4 Dioxide

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established Maximum Contaminant Levels (CLs) for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking in April 2024. Starting in 2027, water systems must inform the public about PFAS levels in their drinking water. If drinking levels exceed the MCL, public water systems must implement solutions to reduce PFAS levels by 2029. Our electro chemical systems are destroy PFAS, and several large scale clients are now implementing our products into their systems.

Magneli's technology is being utilized by customers to address the challenging and emerging issues of PFAS and 1,4 Dioxane in drinking water. This technology effectively mineralizes these waste substances.

1,4 Dioxane is a solvent that is commonly found in groundwater and is considered a persistent organic pollutant. It is difficult to remove using traditional remediation methods. Although Advanced Oxidation processes that use UV light have been successful, their high cost often makes them impractical.

Electro chemical degradation has been shown to effectively mineralize these solvents by reductive dichlorination and OH mediated oxidation.

PFAS, including PFOA and PFOS, are a serious health risk due to their toxic effects and their abundance, bioulation, and persistence. These substances are difficult to eliminate from water sources and traditional methods have proven ineffective. Advanced treatment approaches, such as electrochemical oxidation, have shown promise in achieving complete mineralization and are being studied for their effectiveness.

Magneli Materials’ Ti407 anodes have shown, both in research and at industrial scale, to be an effective anode for use in electro chemical systems for the removal of PFAs from water. Our anodes are being supplied and  incorporated into industrial applications now.

Waste water treatment plant

Industrial Water Treatment

While the advantages of Electro Chemical Oxidation have been known and documented for many years, the technological barrier has been a material on the anode that has high over-potential and is commercially viable. Magneli Materials has developed coating technology that allows for Ti4O7 to be coated on Anodes that then allow for Electro Chemical Advanced Oxidation systems to be created in the industrial waste water treatment industry.

For over a decade Magneli’s engineering team has been developing new technologies to apply Ti4O7 to anodes.   These anodes were initially tested in lab scale, then rolled out in pilot size plants at water treatment reactors.  Our first industrial scale system utilized Ti4O7 traditional flat plate anode technology.  The first water treatment plant, a coke facility supplying the steel industry, was able to achieve the target COD levels for discharge, and the anodes could withstand high current densities. However these operating costs were too high. But…

Two generations later, we have a state of the art reactive membrane anode as well as a new integrated reactor design, which can reduce operating expenses over previous technologies by 50%, and decreased processing time for hard COD contaminants by 50%.

Our new Reactive Membrane technology incorporates a 3-dimensional ceramic Ti4O7 anode which has all the characteristics and performance of a Ti4O7 anode, but performs at a more advanced level due to a larger surface area than traditional anodes and the ability to allow for catalyst coats to be applied to support high current density operations. Standard Accelerated Life tests on the new Magneli Reactive Membranes have shown at 40,000 amps/m2 in a sulphuric acid solution these anodes will last for over 110 hours, or equivalent to 10 years of operation as a conservative estimate. Expected life is thought to be closer to 25-50% more than that.

Magneli’s Reactive Membranes are sold individually and in new water treatment reactors, incorporating 7 Magneli anodes and 7 stainless steel cathodes in a new reactor design for industrial use of this technology. Magneli’s reactive membrane technology is being used in full scale operations of many industries including these clients:

  • Pharmaceutical

  • Chemical Treatment Plant

  • Textile Treatment Plant

  • Leachate

  • Food Manufacturing Plants

  • Oil and Gas Plants

  • Oil Refineries

Water Disinfection for drinking water

WATER DISINFECTION

Worldwide, 780 million people do not have access to sanitized water sources per the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The outcome of this is approximately 800,000 children deaths under the age of 5 due to diarrheal disease and water infection. 41 million people suffer from active Trachoma, the leading preventable cause of blindness, 10 Million of those are irreversibly blinded per year from this easily preventable disease. The regions most affected by this issue, according to the World Health Organization and UNICEF, are Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia, and Eastern Asia. There are worldwide efforts to improve these current conditions, and proves the need for continued advancement in the field. Water disinfection is a vital part of everyday life and continued advancement on effective, safe, easy to perform, and less labor intensive methodology is vital.

Nowadays electrochemical disinfection has gained increasing attention as an alternative for conventional drinking water treatment, because it is regarded as environmentally friendly, amenable to automation, inexpensive, easily operated and is known to inactivate a wide variety of microorganisms from bacteria to viruses and algae.

As compared with other chemical disinfection methods, the advantages of electrochemical water disinfection are obvious:

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  • No transport, storage, and dosage of disinfectants are required. The disinfecting effect can be adjusted according to the on-site demand.

  • Electrochemical water disinfection shows a reservoir effect and is often more cost-effective and requires less maintenance than other disinfection methods.

  • Photovoltaic power supply makes it possible to use electrochemical water disinfection far from the electrical supply grid. This may be important for its application to drinking water in developing countries.

  • Electrochemical water disinfection can also be used in conjunction with other disinfection methods.

 

Various electrodes have been used in the EAOP process and the common feature is that high over-potential is necessary to facilitate electrochemical production. The need for a cost effective, long life anode has been one of the issues in this industry preventing large scale implementation. The Magneli Reactive Membrane can process large volumes of water effectively, has a long life, is energy efficient and allows for cost and performance advantages to allow wider use of electrochemical disinfection.

Water Treatment Research Articles

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