PRESS
Targeting the Sewage Treatment After a Success in BWM
2021-05-25
Techcross, a company specializing in electrolysis water treatment, is developing a better advanced sewage treatment process that supplements the deficiencies of existing technologies in order to actively respond to the problem of advanced trace pollutants.
 Recently, the problem of trace pollutants has intensified deeply. These pollutants are artificial chemicals that exist in trace amounts of ng/L or ㎍/L in water or in the environment, and there are risks of developing bacteria or antibiotic resistance genes that cannot be killed by antibiotics during treatment by general biological processes in sewage treatment plants. Trace pollutants are currently excluded from the criteria for water quality of surface water and subsurface water, but Korea is also being exposed to more than 300 chemical substances, and the industry predicts that relevant regulations will be implemented soon. In fact, in 2019, the Ministry of Environment implemented a key feature project to support the installation of water purification facilities to more efficiently remove trace harmful substances.
 Currently, the commonly used technology is an oxidation process that uses ozone or UV (ultraviolet radiation) method alone or an activated carbon adsorption method. However, in the case of the ozone-only oxidation process, there is a risk of carcinogenic oxidation by-products, the UV-only oxidation process has a decrease in efficiency and difficulty in maintenance due to turbidity of the treated water, and the activated carbon absorption has an economic burden on the replacement cost of the adsorbent or the cost of recycling and waste disposal.
 In contrast, an advanced economical oxidation process from Techcross that combines the electrochemical in situ hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production technology using high-efficiency electrodes and the ozone oxidation process is excellent in terms of economy and safety because it produces an oxidizing agent immediately in situ. In addition, it is planned to enable customized operation by water quality by introducing IoT-based control and monitoring technology, as well as reducing facility and operating costs through optimal process design.  
 To this end, through the 2020 Water and Sewage Innovative Technology Development Project, Techcross is currently developing an Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) for wastewater in response to trace pollutants in cooperation with Seoul National University and Institute for Advanced Engineering. The project, which started in 2019, has produced a hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) generator, which is a key equipment, and is currently conducting a verification test of the advanced oxidation process for the pilot scale to verify and supplement the model, and even completed developing a server system for collecting data from the advanced oxidation process. In 2021, a 2,000㎥/day scale equipment will be manufactured and operated, and the development will be completed by evaluating long-term stability in 2022.
 Techcross, which ranks first in the global marine & offshore market with its electrolysis technology ballast water management system, is also demonstrating a strong confidence in achieving its goals in the new industry based on the technology and data it has accumulated so far. While awareness of environmental issues and interest in technologies to prevent them are increasing steadily, Techcross is pursuing a stable business expansion into the field of land water and sewage treatment beyond the marine environment industry.
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