A cleaner future for UV water treatment
Clean Technology That Delivers Clean Water
+++++++++++++++++Eco-UV is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 641702
Clean Technology That Delivers Clean Water
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Eco-UV is a major new programme supported by a €3.9m grant from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation fund. Led by Hanovia, a global leader in disinfecting industrial process water using Ultra-Violet light, the project aims to develop a new generation of super-efficient, low energy, long life UV lamps.
Eco-UV will revolutionise the design of UV lamps, becoming the biggest step-change in UV water treatment technology in decades. These new lamps will not only significantly reduce electricity and running costs, they'll also be ecologically cleaner and have a much longer operational life, saving maintenance down time and associated costs. Despite the innovation they can be retrofitted into existing UV systems to maximise the environmental and cost gains for both clients and the environment. Demonstrated in typical industrial applications, the performance and environmental footprint of the new lamp systems will be independently measured and verified.
UV water treatment harnesses the power of the sun to disinfect water without chemicals. Special lamps generate UV-C light, which permanently inactivates bacteria and viruses and breaks down molecules of chemical impurities, leaving clean, bio-secure water using no chemicals and leaving no residue. UV Disinfection is widely used in industrial and municipal water treatment. However, to sustainably manage the increasing pressures on water supplies and to address energy and environmental costs and concerns, new and innovative approaches are needed.
Eco-UV’s new lamp systems will run live in several industrial applications for six months to thoroughly test and demonstrate the technology in the field. Performance of the lamps and life costs of running the lamp systems will be independently measured and verified by Eco-UV’s Partners.
New lamp technology will deliver a substantially reduced operational energy demand, saving cash and carbon – a big win for clients and the environment. Lamp innovation will be ecologically cleaner, reducing harmful compounds in its manufacture.
This new generation of Eco-UV lamps will have a much longer operational life above optimal performance thresholds meaning less system maintenance and parts replacements than conventional UV lamps prone to ageing.
Eco-UV’s new lamps will combine the disinfection efficiency of conventional low pressure lamps with the polychromatic destructive efficiency of conventional medium pressure lamps, but without the associated low wavelengths of medium pressure lamps. Therefore Eco-UV’s lamps will give the most efficient and effective dose per kW energy expended of all UV treatment technologies while ensuring process safety.
Eco-UV will be funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 641702.
Horizon 2020 focuses on addressing big environmental and societal challenges with funding targeted not just at finding solutions through research, but accelerating uptake of new technology in the marketplace. This drives innovation and economic growth, accelerates the pace of change, creates jobs and improves the competitiveness of the EU in the international arena. Eco-UV will gear towards demonstrating and verifying the new technology in action, creating and launching a new product from its activities.
The first half of the project will be devoted primarily to developing pre-production versions of the new lamp and electronics technology and integrating these into product demonstrators. Next the testing and evaluation of the demonstrators both on selected test sites and by approved validation authorities, as well as a life cycle assessment of the economic and environmental impacts of this new technology.
Outcomes and learnings will be disseminated in technical papers and at conferences once the demonstration systems are generating results. In the meantime, Eco-UV will share information on other aspects of the project including general information on the UV water treatment history, conventional technology and marketplace, also how Eco-UV is tackling the societal and environmental challenges that Horizon 2020 is designed to address. Sign up here to receive updates from Eco-UV as soon as they are available.
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