Water Technology Research (WaTeR) Center
Water Production: Desalination, Purification, and Reclamation
The mission of the
WaTeR Center is to advance technologies of water production in
order to develop new and economical alternative sources of
potable, irrigation, and consumptive water uses.
Science-based innovation, technology evaluation, advanced
education, and rapid information dissemination.
A comprehensive approach focused upon:
Affiliates, Project Collaborators and Sponsors:
WaTeR Center Students
(Click Photo to enlarge)
Water Center Technology Demonstrations and Patents:
A new Mini-Mobile-Modular-Mobile (M3) smart water desalination system
was developed and recently tested at the WaTeR Center. The M3
system which can be remotely monitored and controlled will be utilized
for both laboratory and field studies.
Control of
feed-flow reversal operation of RO desalting demonstrated in a
collaborative project with the Zuckerberg Water Research Institute
(Ben-Gurion University, Israel). Stay-tuned for new developments.
News and Events
Honors & Awards
December 12,
2008. Jose Faria and Kurt Kovac (DWR, San Joaquin District) visited The
WaTeR Center to discuss research progress at the WaTeR Center and for a
demonstration of the new M3 smart water desalination system.
WaTeR Center students gave 10 research papers
presentations at the annual AIChE Meeting in Philadelphia (November
16-21, 2008).
The Water
Technology Research Center will be contributing to the research
activities of the newly established
UCLA/NSF Center for Environmental Implications of
Nanotechnology (CEIN). WaTer Center members, Y. Cohen, F.
Giralt, R. Rallo and J. Grifoll, who are also CEIN members, will lead
the
CEIN in developing its research thrust
on the development of data-driven models for nanoparticle toxicity in
aquatic media and for the transport of nanomaterials in the aquatic
environment. WaTeR Center member E. M. V. Hoek, is leading the
CEIN effort in the development of nanoparticle standards and
physicochemical characterization of nanomaterials.
Postdoctoral and graduate research positions are
now available at the CEIN.
July 2008: WaTeR
Center and the Zuckerberg Institute of Water Research (Ben-Gurion University, Israel) receive a Leshin
Foundation grant for collaborative research on brackish water
desalination.
The WaTeR Center co-sponsored and co-organized the
2008 International Congress on Membranes (ICOM) which will be
held in Honolulu, Hawaii, July 12-18,
2008. Details are posted
at:
North
American Membrane Society.
WaTeR Center students presented over a dozen a series
of research papers in two special University Sessions: (a) RO Analysis
and Modeling Session, and (b) RO Membrane Process Development and Novel
Membranes, at the CA-NV AWWA Spring Conference, Hollywood, CA, April
21-24 (2008).
Dr. Cohen was an
invited speaker at the UC System-Wide Technology Transfer Forum on Clean
Technology, UCOP, April 3, 2008, Burlingame, California. His
presentation focused on "the ., The Water-Energy Nexus: Smart Water
systems: Monitoring, Process Control, Membranes, and Nanotechnology for
Advanced Water Treatment and Desalination,”
Dr. Cohen gave an invited presentation on “Advanced
Water Technology Research and Opportunities for Technology Transfer,” at
the Caltech/MIT Entrepreneur Forum, Caltech, March 8, 2008
Soo-Young Lee - Vice
President/Business Strategy Team for KOLON visited the Water Center on
January 31, 2008.
William Clark - Special
Advisor to the President, Sekisui Chemical Co. visited the UCLA WaTeR
Center on January 30, 2008.
John Norton (Senior
Engineer with MWH) gave a seminar on "Integrated Water Systems: Research
versus Reality", January 25, 2008.
Richard Zhu has been awarded the 2008-2009 "Channabasappa
Memorial Scholarship from the International Desalination Association in
support of his research on the development of a theoretical/modeling
framework for minimizing the cost of water desalination.
Nancy Lin, Gregory Lewis and Myung-man Kim and Y.
Cohen received a Poster Award for their research on “High Performance
Surface Nano-Structured RO/NF Membranes,” International Congress
on Membranes and Membrane Processes (ICOM 2008), July 12-18, Honolulu,
Hawaii.
Myung-man, R. Rallo, E. Lyster and Y. Cohen received a
Poster Presentation Award for the work on "Optical Monitoring and
Real-Time Digital Image Analysis of Mineral Scale Formation on RO
Membranes,” presented at the
International Congress on Membranes and Membrane
Processes (ICOM 2008), July 12-18, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Anditya Rahardianto, Brian McCool and Y. Cohen received a
First Place Poster Award for their research work on "High recovery
inland water desalination via RO integrated with accelerated chemical
demineralization – Laboratory and Pilot studies," presented in the RO
Membrane Process Development and Novel Membranes Session, 2008 CA-NV
AWWA Spring Conference, Hollywood, CA, April 21-24 (2008)
Mike Uchymiak has been awarded the 2007-2008 "Channabasappa
Memorial Scholarship from the International Desalination Association in
support of his research on real-time mineral scale monitoring and
feed-flow reversal operation of membrane desalination.
Hsiao-Yu (Nancy) Lin was awarded the first NWRI-Southern
California Salinity Coalition Fellowship for her work on the development
of fouling resistant RO membranes (2007-2009).
Sustainable
water production technology in harmony with the environment.
Multidisciplinary
research & development teams.
Advanced
zero-discharge water production processes through integration with
energy generation, membrane and thermal desalination and concentrate
utilization.
Rapid
information dissemination and public access to new scientific,
technical, economic, and environmental knowledge.
Training
the next generation of water technology experts for the
State of
California.
Nancy Lin at ICOM 2008
Water pretreatment processes for
foulant removal and mineral salt scale inhibition.
Advanced
fouling and scaling resistant membranes for water
desalination.
Toward
zero liquid discharge water production via high recovery membrane
processes.
Enhancing and
integrating advanced disinfection technologies.
Recycling
technologies integrated into new water production facilities.
Greg Guillen at ICOM 2008
We are a
multidisciplinary team
of Faculty from different
academic institutions and center affiliates from industry, State and
Federal Agencies and the National Laboratories.
Research at the WaTeR Center is funded by a number of water agencies
including the California Department of Water Resources, the Metropolitan
Water District of Southern California, the USEPA and industrial sponsors
that are listed in the Members Section.