ABOUT PRIMEUS

According to the water quality monitoring for the human consumption in Croatia for 2018, most of the water from local (and individual) water supply systems were unsafe to drink, primarily due to the presence of microbiological and heavy metal contamination. Commonly used water disinfection process with chlorine and its compounds can produce carcinogenic by-products, such as chlorinated hydrocarbons and nitrosamines. Also, conventional methods for removal of heavy metals, such as reverse osmosis and ion exchange, are very complex and expensive in general. According to the recent research, advanced oxidation and electrochemical processes show the possibility for effective removal of various pollutants in water purification process. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to determine the applicability of the electrocoagulation (EC) and ultrasound (US), as an advanced oxidation process, for removing microbial and heavy metals contamination in drinking water preparation. The final goal of the project is to construct a small water purification system (EC and US reactor with settling tank) with optimum configuration defined on the project research, that will include different process parameters, as well as the design of the system, ln order to create a continuous water purification system. The lack of the possibility for continuous treatment is one of the greatest shortcomings of the existing research. The research will undergo through five phases in which a research group and laboratory will be established and the EC and US efficiency for pollutants removal will be investigated for different process parameters. Then, through numerical modelling, the necessary design of the system elements will be defined in order to achieve the continuity of the purification process. Also, the effects of the system design on the removal efficiency will be investigated. Finally, the pollutants removal efficiency will be determined on the constructed and optimized system.

Ivan Halkijević

Principal investigator

Associate Professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering University of Zagreb (Department of Hydroscience and Engineering)

Expertise: water and wastewater treatment, computer modeling, water supply and drainage system design

ivan.halkijevic@grad.unizg.hr

Gordon Gilja

Research group member

Associate Professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering University of Zagreb (Department of Hydroscience and Engineering)

Expertise: computer modeling, hydro-morphodynamic analysis, erosion protection, hydraulics

gordon.gilja@grad.unizg.hr

Katarina Licht

PhD candidate

Research Assistant at the Faculty of Civil Engineering University of Zagreb (Department of Hydroscience and Engineering)

Expertise: water and wastewater treatment, chemistry lab experience

katarina.licht@grad.unizg.hr

Domagoj Nakic

Research group member

Assistant Professor at the University North, Varaždin

Expertise: computer modeling, wastewater treatment, sludge treatment

dnakic@unin.hr

Hana Posavčić

Research group member

Research and Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Civil Engineering University of Zagreb (Department of Hydroscience and Engineering)

Expertise: water and wastewater treatment, computer modeling, water supply and drainage system design

hana.posavcic@grad.unizg.hr

Marin Kuspilic

Research group member

Research and Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Civil Engineering University of Zagreb (Department of Hydroscience and Engineering)

Expertise: computer modeling, water supply and drainage system design

marin.kuspilic@grad.unizg.hr

9^th International Conference Water For All 2022 (Osijek, Croatia)

We presented some of our research with paper Application of Electrocoagulation for Disinfection and Treatment of Water Contaminated With Arsenic and Chromium at the international conference Water for All in Osijek. You can read the paper

17th International Symposium on Water Management and Hydraulic Engineering 2022 (Sopot, Poland)

In this paper, ultrasonic treatment, electrocoagulation and the combinations of these treatments were compared for the removal of manganese, nickel, cobalt, cadmium and chromium from a synthetic solution. Experiments were conducted using aluminium electrodes in a modified ultrasonic bath. The experimental design approach and multi-level categoric design were used to design the experiments and optimize the results. The results show that ultrasound largely affects the EC heavy metals removal process and leads to higher efficiencies than EC alone. You can find out more

17th International Symposium on Water Management and Hydraulic Engineering 2022 (Sopot, Poland)

Another paper was presented at the conference. The influence of the electrode material and the initial concentration of heavy metals on the efficiency of their removal from water by the electrocoagulation process was investigated. The experiments were carried out in a batch reactor with aluminium, iron, copper and graphite electrodes at three different contaminant concentrations. For the conditions that yielded the highest efficiency, a set of experiments was conducted with perforated electrodes. The process was more successful at lower concentrations, and the material of the electrodes had the greatest influence. Read more

30^th International Conference Ecology & Safety 2021 (Burgas, Bulgaria)

We presented some of the research results at 30th International Conference Ecology & Safety 2021 (16-19 August 2021) in Burgas, Bulgaria, with the paper called SHORT REVIEW OF RAW WATER DISINFECTION METHODS WITH A FOCUS ON ULTRASONIC SYSTEMS.

A Review on Applications of Ultrasound Technology in Water Treatment

The paper is focused on presenting the general principle of US treatment. Different types of US reaction systems are discussed with an overview of recent studies where US was used for water treatment. Further, a summary of operating costs from these studies is also given. More soon.

Review of Methods for Removing Heavy Metals From Waters

A number of technologies have been developed to remove heavy metals from water, such as adsorption, membrane filtration, ion exchange, advanced oxidation processes, physicochemical and electrochemical methods. This article gives an overview of the most researched methods for the treatment of water contaminated with heavy metals. You can find more here.