Scientists and engineers at NSTU-NETI have created a non-reactive water purification plant

The problem of providing the population with high-quality drinking water and, technological and wastewater treatment remains relevant for the development of the national economy of the country as a whole and the Novosibirsk region in particular. "Our development was initiated by familiarization with the needs of Russian Railways, where there is a great need for a significant number of installations for cleaning downhill drinking water from impurities dissolved in them — iron, manganese, and calcium salts. Despite the presence of many developments in this area, the problem of improving the quality of purification, as well as the reliability, economic, and energy efficiency of water treatment systems, does not lose its relevance. As a result, the team created an experimental installation for reagent—free water purification, the composition of which allows the production up to 50 cubic meters per day," said Alexey Vostretsov, project manager, head of the Laboratory of Quantum Cryogenic Electronics at NSTU-NETI, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor. The project team took water intakes at the Cherepanovo station in the Novosibirsk region, where it was found that the maximal accepted concentration (MAC) for iron, manganese and calcium exceeded the norms by several times. Because of water treatment at the created installation, all indicators with a large margin began to meet the SanPiN standards. The water treatment method proposed by the NSTU-NETI team is energy efficient, reagent-free, and environmentally friendly. It is based on simultaneous multiple physical effects on the treated water. From the perspective of the physics of processes, pressure differences, the collision rate of flows, wide-range resonant effects, cavitation effects and the formation of vortex structures are used. This ensures the transfer of impurities dissolved in water to an insoluble state. Simply put, the salts precipitate and are then easily separated by filtration. Alexey Vostretsov noted that the result is water that meets the requirements of SanPiN. The economic indicator is also important: the cost of 1 cubic meter of water purified at the installation of NSTU-NETI engineers is approximately 2.5 times lower than the cost of a cubic meter purified using currently used methods. During this research, an original vortex device for water treatment was developed and patented. Professor Vostretsov stressed that the development of a reagent-free integrated well water treatment plant for local water supply systems corresponds to the direction of strategic scientific and technical development of the Russian Federation — the transition to highly productive and environmentally friendly agro- and aquatic farming, the development and implementation of systems for the rational use of chemical and biological protection of agricultural plants and animals, storage and efficient processing of agricultural products, the creation of safe and high-quality, including functional, food products and the objectives of the socio-economic Development Strategy of the Novosibirsk region to create a modern and safe environment for life, the transformation of cities and towns in the region.