The Royal Society of Chemistry has awarded the Outstanding Paper Award to members of the University of Miami Water Quality Engineering Laboratory, as well as their U.S. Environmental Protection Agency partners, for their 2019 paper on portable ozone–UV net-zero water wash stations.
Led by James Englehardt, a professor in the College of Engineering’s Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, a continuous-flow net-zero water — or nearly closed-loop — sink and shower station, with treatment loop comprised of screening, filtering and ozone–UV advanced oxidation, was designed, constructed and tested for performance with simulated and actual human showers.
Because disease pandemics can accelerate rapidly in areas with limited clean-water access, Englehardt’s research provides a blueprint for a portable greywater reuse system, which may be built by his industry partner Spartan Environmental Technologies to provide wash water at emergency health care units.
As a note, members of Englehardt’s Water Quality Laboratory team, and alumni of the College of Engineering, have found success after graduation. Lucien Gassie is now employed as an Environmental Engineer/Wyoming Sanitary Survey Manager at US EPA Region 8, and Kusumitha Perera is a Process Engineer at Intel Corp.
Congratulations to Dr. Englehardt and his team!
