Nano-oxygenation in water treatment by ambient-pressure air-fed, ultra-low-energy nanobubble generation

Introduction

Spun out of UCD Chemical Engineering, AquaB's ambitious mission is to no less than clean up the world's water.

Technology Overview

The ‘intellectual machinery’ embedded in our nanobubble-generation and controlled release is based on an electric-field-inducing electrostriction. This technology serves to create a transient negative-pressure region, thereby 'sucking in' gas into the liquid in the form of many nano-bubbles.

These nano-bubbles are kinetically metastable, typically for many weeks and longer. The energy costs of this additive-free, non-contact method are an order of magnitude lower than 'classical' approaches, which often involve:

• Massive pressure drops from pumping across Venturi tubes
• Other energy-intensive methods

Additionally, our method offers a far longer lifetime and a smaller, more uniform size range.

Project Goals

In this project, we will revolutionise the low-energy and low-maintenance aeration of water. The novel NB generator will be tested in three use cases:

1. Wastewater treatment
2. Aquaculture
3. Agriculture

The project will also prepare the technology for full commercialisation.