Boron Doped Diamond Electrodes for an Electrochemical Oxidation Treatment to Disinfect Potable Water Sources

Electrochemical oxidation technologies are frequently used by military forces to create disinfectant solutions for individual use water treatment. However, current technologies suffer from degradation of system components because of the added salt required for the oxidation processes. Further, over time, high overpotentials result in the slow oxidation of the DSA electrodes reducing system efficiency. Certain impurities in the feed stock salt can also complex with and degrade the DSA electrodes. To solve these issues, the Luna team proposes the use of high performance electrode (HPE) materials to create oxidizing solutions without the use of feed stock salt. The creation of ozone and hydroxyl free radicals will be facilitated by the use of boron doped diamond (BDD) electrodes. The efficiency in the reduction of harmful microbial species will be increased by exploring methods to enhance the electrode area per unit volume of solution for a given nominal surface dimension. The maximization of electrode efficiency will reduce interaction times required between source water and the electrode to achieve the specified log reduction of microbiological species and thus reduce power and size specifications for the final device. The end result will be a small, portable, and cost effective device to disinfect potable water.