NEWT is an interdisciplinary, multi-institution nanosystems-engineering research center (headquartered at Rice University) whose goal is to facilitate access to clean water almost anywhere in the world by developing efficient modular water treatment systems that are easy to deploy, and that can tap unconventional sources to provide humanitarian water or emergency response. NEWT also develops systems to treat and reuse challenging industrial wastewaters in remote locations, such as oil and gas fields to help energy production be more sustainable and more cost-efficient in regards to its water footprint. --- Our vision is to enable access to suitable water almost anywhere in the world by developing next-generation high-performance, easy-to-deploy drinking water and industrial wastewater treatment systems enabled by nanotechnology. NEWT’s technologies will safely exploit the unique properties of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) to treat water using less chemicals, less electricity and smaller reactors than current technologies, enable re-use or regeneration of ENMs to decrease treatment costs, and use interchangeable treatment modules to accommodate different feed-water quality and treatment objectives. The center research will have direct impact on a fundamental necessity for life – water, which is also a critical resource for economic and social development, and intricately connected to energy production. Through its fundamental and transformative research as well as innovative educational programs, NEWT will also educate the next-generation workforce to be creative, versatile leaders in the burgeoning industry of sustainable technologies for water treatment.
Research Areas
NEWT is the first national center to develop next-generation affordable, mobile, modular, high-performance water treatment systems enabled by nanotechnology. Our systems will be highly compact, energy efficient, and adaptable to varying source water quality to meet the growing industrial and societal needs for off-grid water supply and reuse.
NEWT conducts use-inspired basic research (bottom level) to develop enabling technologies (mid-level), which are then integrated into modular treatment systems (top level). Three research thrusts, each representing a key component of the proposed systems, plus a cross-cutting Sustainability and Safety theme will guide fundamental research and develop novel water treatment processes and advanced materials.
THRUST 1
MULTI-FUNCTIONAL NANOMATERIALS
This effort exploits the unique chemical and physical properties of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) to transform conventional adsorption technology. We will develop modules that use multi-functional ENMs to remove a range of target pollutants with high specificity.
We plan to focus on oxo-anions (e.g., As, NO3-, U, Cr(VI)) and viruses because they pose special challenges for water treatment. Furthermore, we can leverage the unique photochemical and photophysical properties of ENMs to transform sorbed pollutants into innocuous byproducts. For example, ENMs will catalytically reduce adsorbed nitrate to N2 and will inactivate viruses.
Specific projects include:
Multi-functional sorbents in packed-bed reactors
Multi-functional magnet-based ENMs for rapid adsorption and recovery
Photocatalytic ENMs for pollutant destruction
THRUST 2
LOW ENERGY DESALINATION
This effort will exploit and advance recent developments in nanophotonics and thin film nanocomposite materials to improve the energy efficiency of desalination. We will develop two alternative solar desalination technologies, low-pressure reverse osmosis (RO) and direct solar membrane distillation (MD), for treating water containing a wide range of contaminants including total dissolved solids (TDS).
Specific Projects include:
Design and synthesis of NP-based media for optimized solar-thermal processes
Nanophotonic enhanced direct solar membrane distillation
Mixed matrix NF/RO membranes
THRUST 3
SCALING & FOULING CONTROL
This effort will exploit unique nano-scale interfacial phenomena to develop fouling and scaling control strategies that ensure that NEWT’s systems (a) operate stably and reliably with a wide range of feed waters, and (b) produce water that does not foul or form scales in its reuse. We will develop effective pre-treatment methods and high-performance anti-fouling membranes.
Specific projects include:
Nanotemplate assisted mineral nucleation
ENM coatings that resist organic and biological fouling and scaling
Nanocomposite electrodes that selectively remove multivalent ions by electrosorption
SUSTAINABILITY & SAFETY THEME
The Sustainability and Safety cross-cutting theme will inform nanomaterial selection and design, device development, and technology implementation through two projects:
Specific projects include:
Market Performance Projection, Lifecycle, Nano-safety and Techno-Economic Analyses
Regulatory and Social Acceptance and Risk Analysis
Facilities & Resources
TESTBEDS NEWT will design, build, test, and monitor continuous-flow pilot-scale and demonstration-scale systems that incorporate technologies developed within the center as well as technologies developed by our industrial collaborators. The testbeds offer unique research and educational opportunities, and will encompass: Drinking Water Testbeds for point –of-use/point-of -entry, rural, and emergency water supply Industrial wastewater reuse system for remote, off-the-water-grid oil&gas sites Brackish groundwater desalination LABORATORY SPACE NEWT researchers enjoy access to Rice’s Shared Equipment Authority (SEA). Rice established the SEA in 2001 to provide superb experimental facilities, research equipment, and support services at an affordable cost. Small Times magazine ranked Rice’s nanotechnology facilities as #2 in the U.S. Nine professional staff members operate and maintain equipment, set and enforce safety procedures, train users, and prepare samples. NEWT researchers will also have access to resources at the Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology and the Texas Center for X-Ray Crystallography. NEWT headquarters are located at Rice University, which has excellent engineering and nanotechnology research facilities. Rice also provides additional laboratory space for building and testing the NEWT-SKID testbed (well-suited to treat up to 1000 gal/day of water), which is located in the Ryon Laboratory. COMPUTING Rice’s Research Computing Support Group provides full-service system administration, application support, user support and education, and data management services. Every Rice faculty or staff member has access to large-scale computing power at no cost at the Shared University Grid @ Rice (SUG@R), an Intel Xeon-based cluster, and at the Cray XD1 AMD (Ada), an Opteron-based cluster. NEWT will benefit from the Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology (K2I), a Rice research institute. K2I brings strengths in high-performance computing and computational science and engineering. Its goals are to support, foster, and develop a strong community of research and education in computing technologies, computational engineering, and information processing. K2I also encourages and develops close partnerships with industry, government, and other universities. EQUIPMENT Arizona State University (ASU) provides experimental and analytical equipment to measure water quality (bulk and trace organics, inorganics pathogens), flow rates, and power consumption. ASU will also provide access to a high-bay facility to construct and debug MobileNEWT and to the Solar House operated by QESST, ASU’s current ERC. University of Texas El Paso: UTEP provides access to the Center for Inland Desalination (CIDS) tstbed, and to two Environmental Growth Chambers and five ell-equipped laboratories in the Chemistry Department. These laboratories provide bench space for 30 researchers and a wide range of analytical equipment. Yale University: Yale participants are well equipped for environmental nanotechnology research. We have access to shared facilities in the Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering and to state-of-the-art equipment at the Yale Institute for Nanosciences and Quantum Engineering. LABORATORY SAFETY NEWT provides appropriate safety training at all the partner universities. Each NEWT laboratory addresses safety protocols in its research procedures. All the partner universities train researchers in the correct use of personal protective equipment and engineering controls. Rice University requires regular thorough inspections by the Building’s Safety Officer and Rice’s Environmental Health & Safety Department (EHSD). Protective equipment and waste disposal procedures follow Rice’s EHSD policy, which is based on Federal safety guidelines 10 CFR 835.501(d) and 10 CFR 835.1102. DATA SHARING All NEWT-generated research findings, data, and other research products will be made available to other ERCs to facilitate cross-ERC collaboration and fertilization. Proprietary information will be restricted to NEWT personnel and other ERC personnel upon request and approval from the NEWT Center Director.
Partner Organizations
Rice University
Arizona State University
University of Texas El Paso
Yale University
Abbreviation |
NEWT
|
Country |
United States
|
Region |
Americas
|
Primary Language |
English
|
Evidence of Intl Collaboration? |
|
Industry engagement required? |
Associated Funding Agencies |
Contact Name |
Matt Hotze
|
Contact Title |
Administrative Director
|
Contact E-Mail |
matt.hotze@rice.edu
|
Website |
|
General E-mail |
info@newtcenter.org
|
Phone |
(713) 348-6398
|
Address |
Rice University
6100 Main St., MS 6398
Houston
TX
77005
|
NEWT is an interdisciplinary, multi-institution nanosystems-engineering research center (headquartered at Rice University) whose goal is to facilitate access to clean water almost anywhere in the world by developing efficient modular water treatment systems that are easy to deploy, and that can tap unconventional sources to provide humanitarian water or emergency response. NEWT also develops systems to treat and reuse challenging industrial wastewaters in remote locations, such as oil and gas fields to help energy production be more sustainable and more cost-efficient in regards to its water footprint. --- Our vision is to enable access to suitable water almost anywhere in the world by developing next-generation high-performance, easy-to-deploy drinking water and industrial wastewater treatment systems enabled by nanotechnology. NEWT’s technologies will safely exploit the unique properties of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) to treat water using less chemicals, less electricity and smaller reactors than current technologies, enable re-use or regeneration of ENMs to decrease treatment costs, and use interchangeable treatment modules to accommodate different feed-water quality and treatment objectives. The center research will have direct impact on a fundamental necessity for life – water, which is also a critical resource for economic and social development, and intricately connected to energy production. Through its fundamental and transformative research as well as innovative educational programs, NEWT will also educate the next-generation workforce to be creative, versatile leaders in the burgeoning industry of sustainable technologies for water treatment.
Abbreviation |
NEWT
|
Country |
United States
|
Region |
Americas
|
Primary Language |
English
|
Evidence of Intl Collaboration? |
|
Industry engagement required? |
Associated Funding Agencies |
Contact Name |
Matt Hotze
|
Contact Title |
Administrative Director
|
Contact E-Mail |
matt.hotze@rice.edu
|
Website |
|
General E-mail |
info@newtcenter.org
|
Phone |
(713) 348-6398
|
Address |
Rice University
6100 Main St., MS 6398
Houston
TX
77005
|
Research Areas
NEWT is the first national center to develop next-generation affordable, mobile, modular, high-performance water treatment systems enabled by nanotechnology. Our systems will be highly compact, energy efficient, and adaptable to varying source water quality to meet the growing industrial and societal needs for off-grid water supply and reuse.
NEWT conducts use-inspired basic research (bottom level) to develop enabling technologies (mid-level), which are then integrated into modular treatment systems (top level). Three research thrusts, each representing a key component of the proposed systems, plus a cross-cutting Sustainability and Safety theme will guide fundamental research and develop novel water treatment processes and advanced materials.
THRUST 1
MULTI-FUNCTIONAL NANOMATERIALS
This effort exploits the unique chemical and physical properties of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) to transform conventional adsorption technology. We will develop modules that use multi-functional ENMs to remove a range of target pollutants with high specificity.
We plan to focus on oxo-anions (e.g., As, NO3-, U, Cr(VI)) and viruses because they pose special challenges for water treatment. Furthermore, we can leverage the unique photochemical and photophysical properties of ENMs to transform sorbed pollutants into innocuous byproducts. For example, ENMs will catalytically reduce adsorbed nitrate to N2 and will inactivate viruses.
Specific projects include:
Multi-functional sorbents in packed-bed reactors
Multi-functional magnet-based ENMs for rapid adsorption and recovery
Photocatalytic ENMs for pollutant destruction
THRUST 2
LOW ENERGY DESALINATION
This effort will exploit and advance recent developments in nanophotonics and thin film nanocomposite materials to improve the energy efficiency of desalination. We will develop two alternative solar desalination technologies, low-pressure reverse osmosis (RO) and direct solar membrane distillation (MD), for treating water containing a wide range of contaminants including total dissolved solids (TDS).
Specific Projects include:
Design and synthesis of NP-based media for optimized solar-thermal processes
Nanophotonic enhanced direct solar membrane distillation
Mixed matrix NF/RO membranes
THRUST 3
SCALING & FOULING CONTROL
This effort will exploit unique nano-scale interfacial phenomena to develop fouling and scaling control strategies that ensure that NEWT’s systems (a) operate stably and reliably with a wide range of feed waters, and (b) produce water that does not foul or form scales in its reuse. We will develop effective pre-treatment methods and high-performance anti-fouling membranes.
Specific projects include:
Nanotemplate assisted mineral nucleation
ENM coatings that resist organic and biological fouling and scaling
Nanocomposite electrodes that selectively remove multivalent ions by electrosorption
SUSTAINABILITY & SAFETY THEME
The Sustainability and Safety cross-cutting theme will inform nanomaterial selection and design, device development, and technology implementation through two projects:
Specific projects include:
Market Performance Projection, Lifecycle, Nano-safety and Techno-Economic Analyses
Regulatory and Social Acceptance and Risk Analysis
Facilities & Resources
TESTBEDS NEWT will design, build, test, and monitor continuous-flow pilot-scale and demonstration-scale systems that incorporate technologies developed within the center as well as technologies developed by our industrial collaborators. The testbeds offer unique research and educational opportunities, and will encompass: Drinking Water Testbeds for point –of-use/point-of -entry, rural, and emergency water supply Industrial wastewater reuse system for remote, off-the-water-grid oil&gas sites Brackish groundwater desalination LABORATORY SPACE NEWT researchers enjoy access to Rice’s Shared Equipment Authority (SEA). Rice established the SEA in 2001 to provide superb experimental facilities, research equipment, and support services at an affordable cost. Small Times magazine ranked Rice’s nanotechnology facilities as #2 in the U.S. Nine professional staff members operate and maintain equipment, set and enforce safety procedures, train users, and prepare samples. NEWT researchers will also have access to resources at the Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology and the Texas Center for X-Ray Crystallography. NEWT headquarters are located at Rice University, which has excellent engineering and nanotechnology research facilities. Rice also provides additional laboratory space for building and testing the NEWT-SKID testbed (well-suited to treat up to 1000 gal/day of water), which is located in the Ryon Laboratory. COMPUTING Rice’s Research Computing Support Group provides full-service system administration, application support, user support and education, and data management services. Every Rice faculty or staff member has access to large-scale computing power at no cost at the Shared University Grid @ Rice (SUG@R), an Intel Xeon-based cluster, and at the Cray XD1 AMD (Ada), an Opteron-based cluster. NEWT will benefit from the Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology (K2I), a Rice research institute. K2I brings strengths in high-performance computing and computational science and engineering. Its goals are to support, foster, and develop a strong community of research and education in computing technologies, computational engineering, and information processing. K2I also encourages and develops close partnerships with industry, government, and other universities. EQUIPMENT Arizona State University (ASU) provides experimental and analytical equipment to measure water quality (bulk and trace organics, inorganics pathogens), flow rates, and power consumption. ASU will also provide access to a high-bay facility to construct and debug MobileNEWT and to the Solar House operated by QESST, ASU’s current ERC. University of Texas El Paso: UTEP provides access to the Center for Inland Desalination (CIDS) tstbed, and to two Environmental Growth Chambers and five ell-equipped laboratories in the Chemistry Department. These laboratories provide bench space for 30 researchers and a wide range of analytical equipment. Yale University: Yale participants are well equipped for environmental nanotechnology research. We have access to shared facilities in the Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering and to state-of-the-art equipment at the Yale Institute for Nanosciences and Quantum Engineering. LABORATORY SAFETY NEWT provides appropriate safety training at all the partner universities. Each NEWT laboratory addresses safety protocols in its research procedures. All the partner universities train researchers in the correct use of personal protective equipment and engineering controls. Rice University requires regular thorough inspections by the Building’s Safety Officer and Rice’s Environmental Health & Safety Department (EHSD). Protective equipment and waste disposal procedures follow Rice’s EHSD policy, which is based on Federal safety guidelines 10 CFR 835.501(d) and 10 CFR 835.1102. DATA SHARING All NEWT-generated research findings, data, and other research products will be made available to other ERCs to facilitate cross-ERC collaboration and fertilization. Proprietary information will be restricted to NEWT personnel and other ERC personnel upon request and approval from the NEWT Center Director.
Partner Organizations
Rice University
Arizona State University
University of Texas El Paso
Yale University