Novel Hybrid Activated Carbon – Fenton Oxidation Processes for Water Treatment (AQUAFERAC) / NSRF 2007-2013, Bilateral R&D Action Greece-Israel 2013-2015

The AquaFeRAC project objective is to develop novel, environment-friendly and cost-effective processes for treatment of polluted waters by combining Activated Carbon (AC) with Fenton oxidation methods (i.e. electro-Fenton, photo-electro-Fenton). The technological targets of these processes are the elimination of reject streams (characterizing currently employed conventional treatment processes), thus maximizing clean water recovery, and the prolongation of AC useful life by its in-situ regeneration, with no external addition of costly and potentially hazardous oxidants; therefore, successful project execution will enable realization of the desirable near Zero Liquid Discharge (nZLD) in various water-treatment applications. TEMAK, a Greek SME, and the Israeli national water company MEKOROT, both with expertise and interest in innovative water-sector solutions, will collaborate with two Laboratories of internationally established record on R&D in water treatment, and special expertise in the above advanced oxidation processes; i.e. the Rabin Desalination Laboratory at TECHNION and the Natural Resources and Renewable Energies (NRRE) Laboratory at CERTH, with which both companies have had good and productive past collaborations. Research for basic process development will be performed (in complementary tasks) by the R&D organizations and the results will be taken up by the industrial partners to design and construct pilot units for testing, under realistic conditions, two variants of the hybrid processes. The novel processes will find significant applications in the two countries and world-wide, for upgrading potable water sources (surface waters, groundwater, off-stream ponds-reservoirs, etc.), for treated municipal wastewater reclamation (e.g. irrigation, aquifer recharge) and industrial wastewater reuse. Significant benefits for the companies will result, at technical and economic level, from this successful process development, thus strengthening their position in the international market with obvious positive impact on the respective national economies and the environment.