MAGIMIX : CLEAN WATER ALL AROUND THE WORLD. New, cost- technology for water clean-up

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Augustus Rodgers
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1 MAGIMIX : CLEAN WATER ALL AROUND THE WORLD New, cost- effective platform technology for water clean-up

2 BARBARA MAHER Centre for Environmental Magnetism and Palaeomagnetism Lancaster Environment Centre University of Lancaster

3 MAGIMIX : a new, versatile material for water purification: 1. MAGIMIX adsorbs ions 2. Magnetically remove MAGIMIX + ion 3. Re- (re) (re)-use MAGIMIX

4 6 billion 3 billion 2000 AD Human population increase X CO 2 increase =

5 WATER:THE THE NEXT GOLD Desalination Heavy metal removal MAGIMIX Organic acids Phosphates

6 EG E.G. DESALINATION Key BUT energy intensive (i.e. increasingly expensive) MAGIMIX can reduce energy costs, global l winner. MAGMIX PRE- TREATED WATER

7 MAGIMIX : Platform technology:1 st application water decontamination (e.g. carbon removal, desalination, i.e. close to customer) Ann. repeat sales MAGIMIX; Ann. fee re. energy savings % /yr Water purification Inc. (Customers) mxn Repeat business Manufacturing (outsourced) Desalination Inc. (partner) MAGIMIX Inc. Time (years) 1 DEVELOP new applctns (1 st refusal to Desalination Inc) 5

8 MAGIMIX What is it? A newly invented, nanoparticulate, strongly magnetic material, with extremely large surface area, and ph dependent surface charge.

9 Electron micrograph of Magimix i (scale bar = 100 nm) Inner core compound and magnetic outer coating

10 Magimix magnetic properties p Magnetic susceptibility ~ 750 x 10 6 m 3 kg 1 Saturation remanent magnetisation ~ 10 A m 2 kg 11 Coercivity of remanence ~ 15 mt

11 MIX : When mixed with a solution, can adsorb charged ions onto its surface. Negatively charged species adsorbed at low ph. Positively charged ions at high ph.

12 MAG : Using its strong magnetisation, Magimix i (+ its surface adsorbed d ions) can be magnetically harvested from suspension. Leaving the solution decontaminated or cleaned up.

13 MAGIMIX re useable.. Can desorb the captured ions from Magimix s surface and thus re use Magimix again and again..

14 HOW DOES MAGIMIX BEHAVE LIKE THIS? Point of zero charge (pzc) The point of zero charge for a given mineral surface is the ph at which h that t surface has a net neutral charge

16 BELOW THE PZC H + ions stay at surface (rather than enter low-ph/h + -rich soltn), so surface +vely charged (H + -rich). Fe Oxygen -vely charged species can adsorb at surface

17 ABOVE THE PZC H + ions enter high-ph/low-h + solution leaving vely charged (H + - poor) surface +vely charged species can adsorb at surface

18 Significance for Magimix, with pzc of 74? 7.4? Magimix i surface has +ve charge at low ph (< ph 7.4) when can adsorb ve species, e.g. dissolved organic carbon, for safe drinking water supplies.

19 PZC Magimix (cont.) Above the pzc (> ph 7.4), Magimix has a net ve surface charge.. Can thus adsorb +ve ions (e.g. Na + for desalination i of water). And/or desorb previously adsorbed ve ions.

20 Possible applications? Removal of contaminants (e.g. salt, organic carbon, radionuclides, d arsenic) from water supplies. Concentration and collection of precious metals from mine tailings. Or even (given strong magnetisation) used as magnetic fillers.

21 Example: Colour removal from upland water supplies Drinking water supplies from peaty upland areas often orange/brown in colour they contain dissolved organic carbon. Great for whisky, not good for tap water..

23 Colour not the only problem when the water is disinfected using chlorine, the chlorine reacts with the organic carbon to produce dangerous, cancer inducing compounds (trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids, carcinogenic and also linked to hearing, lung, kidney, liver and nervous system damage).

24 Colour removal? Present methods costly & create large volumes of waste reagents, incr. expensive to transport and dispose of (landfill tax accelerator). Timely to identify new decontamination methods, efficient/enhanced e cedcolour ou removal & reduced waste.

25 Carbon removal from di drinking water: Mix Magimix with the peaty water (15 mins at ph 5.5), the dissolved carbon adsorbs onto the surfaces of the magnetic material. Can then apply a magnetic field to the magnetic/water mixture, and pull out all the magnetic particles with their attached carbon.

26 Carbon removal, drinking water Clear water decanted off. Waste water with ph 7.5 (i.e. safely down sewer). M i i l d b ifl d b N OH Magimix cleaned briefly e.g. every 3 rd use by NaOH and water for re use

27 % Remo oval MAGIMIX: River Lune, Sept 2005 (initial i i abs. 0.6 uv254) River Lune, Nov Magnetic material (42) (g/l)

28 Langsett water Nov 2005, multiple Magimix runs with no washes % Re emoval Langs water ph g/l Magimix Red Mud Experiment

29 Non DOC Coloured water Sample UV 254 (abs/cm) % abs reduction Oswestry water 0.03 Alum treated (unfiltered) Alum (filtered 0.2 m filter) Ferric (filtered 0.2 m filter) Magimix (unfiltered)

30 Advantages (cont.) Wt Water is 97 98% clear as opposed to 60% clear (Orica Miex). ph of waste water ~ 7.5. Can be reused with little downtime.

31 MAGIMIX : CLEAN WATER ALL AROUND THE WORLD Can remove: Carbon Salt (desalination plant) Sewage Arsenic Precious metals Radionuclides. des.

32 For a demonstration of water clean up using Magimix : Please see my plasma screen display y( (on permanent loop). THANK YOU

33 MAGIMIX 1 million start up costs required Immediate global l application and partner, short and concrete value chain. Repeat business. Future applications. Global l customers/partners. EXIT STRATEGY: sell high value business with strong market visibility after 10 years from today

35 Or: Mix with other compounds to make stable magnetic fillers.

36 Advantages Less waste produced than current procedures; substantial cost saving due to increasing waste disposal costs. Procedure can take place in a single tank; no need for separate treatment tank and settling tank.

37 At pzc, the colloidal system exhibits zero zeta potential (i.e., the particles remain stationary in an electric field), minimum stability (i.e., exhibits maximum coagulation/flocculation rate), maximum solubility of the solid phase, maximum viscosity of the dispersion.

Unit Treatment Processes in Water and Wastewater Engineering

Unit Treatment Processes in Water and Wastewater Engineering T J Casey AQUAVARRA RESEARCH LIMITED 22A Brookfield Avenue Blackrock Co. Dublin. October 2006 Author s Note Water and wastewater treatment technology