Drinking water treatment

Research into treatment for the production of clean and safe drinking water

KWR conducts research into conventional and advanced techniques that water companies can use to guarantee clean and safe drinking water into the future. We also study how treatment processes can be made more sustainable and efficient. And modelling assists in making processes more comprehensible and subject to optimisation.

Research into drinking water treatment techniques

The provision of clean and safe drinking water is threatened by emerging contaminants and the salinisation of groundwater. Besides these concerns, sustainability and efficiency are important themes for water companies. Our experts research water treatment processes, such as flocculation/sedimentation and filtration, for purposes of contaminant removal, desalination and softening. We also research new technologies, such as membrane filtration, advanced oxidation, (biological) activated carbon, ion exchange and other (ad)sorption processes. This further involves studying the influence of different parameters, such as the water matrix and pH.

Modelling for process optimisation

The modelling of processes provides insight into their course and effectiveness. The objective is to optimise process conditions and reactors, with a view to achieving water treatment that is as sustainable as possible, drinking water quality that is as high as possible, and costs that are as low as possible. We apply Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to calculate the efficiency of drinking water installations and the impact of flow conditions on performance. We use statistical models to predict the removal efficiency for micropollutants in a treatment process on the basis of the pollutants’ properties. And we develop dynamic process models – for rapid filtration for instance – for monitoring and optimal process management.

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Bas Wols about Computational Fluid Dynamics.

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