Batool Ahmed Al-Wahdani
King Hussein Foundation. The Jubilee School, Amman, JORDAN
According to WHO, half of humanity has diseases associated with unsafe water. Therefore; many people are daily exposed to dangerous diseases such as diarrhoea. CWADIS explored whether a combination of UV light irradiation, TiO2 catalyst, PET and renewable energy resources could work as an effective water disinfection system continuously. Previous methods for disinfecting drinking water, including boiling and chlorination are time consuming, expensive and significantly alter the taste. Many water disinfection systems depend mainly on electricity to work. There is no doubt that wasting energy from LED irradiation offers a potential purification system for drinking water without known health impacts. CWADIS worked by turning on the LEDs -which take their energy from the solar cells and the wind turbine- until water temperature was around 55â—¦C. Meanwhile; the glass beads which were coated by TiO2 catalyst increased the efficiency of UV in decreasing bacteria and organic compounds. The water pump was then turned on to take water from the plastic container into a Filter where it got rid of water impurities. The results showed that CWADIS allowed (99%) reduction for bacteria. The turbidity of water was decreased to drinkable levels
(< 30 NTU) and the pH of water reached allowable level (7 – 7.5). Moreover, the process was most effective by using the catalyst (TiO2) which was converted into nanoparticles that increased its surface area and therefore the efficiency of UV. CWADIS also was able to work continuously, taking its electrical energy from the solar cells (daytime) and the wind turbine (night time). This feasibility research seems to indicate that CWADIS is simple low cost technology and effective in killing pathogens and micro-organisms that cause hazardous diseases which lead for big population death.
Key Words:
LED: Light Emitting Diodes
TiO2: Titanium Dioxide
PET: Polyethylene Terephthalate