For the past 4 years, PWNT has been the lead partner of the DOC2C’s consortium, an international collaboration between drinking water companies and knowledge institutions. The project was a four-year, extensive research programme to investigate the possibility of improved dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal and control from source waters. The project started in 2016, and the final dissemination workshop was held in Andijk in November 2019.
Results project and contributions PWNT
“The DOC2C’s project brought together a group of water industry professionals who worked on laboratory analytical methods, applied research pilot plants using ion exchange and ceramic membranes, prototype a ceramic nanofilter plant, brine treatment, and full-scale plants using innovative technologies in an effort to evaluate techniques for a better understanding of how to control DOC in surface water treatment. This also includes characterization of raw water organics as well as the impact of DOC on any downstream processes to filtration. The cross-border collaboration was an enormous benefit to the project, with project partners and observers sharing and learning from each other’s experiences throughout the study.” (Holly Shorney-Darby, Senior Project Manager, PWNT).
International collaboration and knowledge sharing
The DOC2C’s consortium was an international collaboration between drinking water utilities and knowledge institutions. The consortium consisted of lead partner PWNT (The Netherlands) and R&D contributions from South West Water (United Kingdom), De Watergroep (Belgium), Lille University (France) and Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands).
This research was through an ‘European Interreg @ Seas Programme’ that is focused on the North Sea and the English Channel regions. This is known as the 2 seas area. Its overall objective is to develop an innovative, knowledge and research based, sustainable and inclusive 2 seas area, where natural resources are protected and the green economy is promoted.
For those interested in the findings of the research programme, please visit our project website: www.doc2cs.com. There you will find four feasibility study reports and over 64 papers/presentations from the workshops and external conferences, all related to DOC in surface water.