Nanomaterials for safer water reuse – Clarke Prize lecturer

Nanomaterials offer opportunities to develop next generation applications for drinking water disinfection and safer water reuse – this is the message that Dr Pedro Alvarez of Rice University will present in his 2012 Clarke Lecture in California on 2 November 2012.

In his lecture Convergence of Nanotechnology and Microbiology: Emerging Opportunities for Water Disinfection, Microbial Control & Integrated Urban Water Management, Alvarez will describe how nanotechnology offers safer and more sustainable options for water treatment; which nanotechnologies have antimicrobial properties; nanotechnology-enabled disinfection; and possible implementation barriers.

The lecture will highlight how the size-dependent properties of some nanomaterials offer opportunities to develop next-generation applications for drinking water disinfection and safer water reuse. Processes enabled by nanotechnology are modular, multifunctional, and high-efficiency, and can be broadly applicable in both industrialized and developing countries by:

  • Enabling the retrofitting of aging infrastructure
  • Developing high-performance, low-maintenance point-of-use devices that facilitate differential water treatment and reuse.
  • To do so, however, will require overcoming the relatively high costs of manufactured nanomaterials and mitigating risks to the public and environmental health, Alvarez will say.

    The 19th Annual Clarke Prize Award Ceremony and Dinner, where Alvarez will receive the 2012 Clarke Prize – a medallion and a US$ 50,000 award – will be held on 2 November 2012, at the Hyatt Regency, Newport Beach in Southern California. The award ceremony and lecture will be the highlight of the 2012 Clarke Prize Conference on Research & Innovations in Urban Water Sustainability.

    Presentations will include:

  • Nutrient Recovery from Wastewater by James Barnard, Black & Veatch
  • Seawater Desalination by Menachem Elimelech, Yale University
  • Microbial Electrochemical Technologies Meet Salinity Gradient Energy by Bruce Logan, Pennsylvania State University
  • Increased Production at Water Recycling Plants through Technical Improvements by Shivaji Deshmukh, West Basin Municipal Water District
  • Direct Potable Reuse by George Tchobanoglous, University of California, Davis