Research by Lancaster University PhD student Jainil Shah - supervised by Professor George Aggidis - on a device to sanitise drinking water has resulted in an international industry award.

As part of his PhD, the Engineering student worked with industrial partner Typhon Treatment Systems Ltd in Cumbria.

The company has pioneered the development of LED ultraviolet (UV) water treatment equipment and their BIO-310 reactor is the only municipal scale UV LED based reactor approved for drinking water disinfection by regulatory authorities.

In collaboration with United Utilities, Typhon has delivered the world’s largest UV LED for drinking water disinfection installation, with the capacity to treat nearly 30,000m3 a day at the Cumwhinton Water Treatment Works in Cumbria.

The BIO-310 UV LED Reactor has now received an international industry award in the Water Supply category at the Aquatech 2021 exhibition in Amsterdam.

Jainil provided Computational and Experimental Modelling for the device as part of his PhD entitled “Hydraulic Optimisation of Typhon Device”.

Audrius Židonis, the lead Mechanical Engineer for Typhon, was Jainil’s industrial supervisor.

He said: “Jainil’s research has played a key role in analysing and optimising this particular reactor design and our technology in general.”

Jainil was in charge of developing an accurate Computational Fluid Dynamic model to predict the flow behaviour inside the reactor. In addition to modelling, he also carried out complex Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) experiments to verify the model.

“In the end, the input from Jainil’s hydraulic modelling combined with Light Intensity Distribution (LID) modelling from another member of the team has helped us to expedite the validation process of the reactor that has won the award.”

Professor and Head of Energy Engineering George Aggidis, who is also Director of Lancaster University’s Renewable Energy Group & Fluid Machinery Group, said:

“Lancaster University Engineering Department research quality and outputs of PhD students like Jainil Shah using state of the art computational and experimental tools, coupled with the excellent Industrial Collaboration with Typhon Treatment Systems Ltd in Cumbria through CGE funding, benefits greatly all the parties involved with positive impacts like this prestigious International Aquatech Award in Amsterdam.”

Jainil’s PhD was funded by Lancaster University’s Centre for Global Eco-Innovation (CGE).

Jainil said: “It is exciting to be part of this project. The collaboration of Lancaster University with CGE and Typhon has provided me with a platform to work on a state-of-the-art technology in the water industry. I am proud to have worked with such an amazing team. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) data along with Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) data has resulted in a valuable piece of research. I am glad that my research contribution played a part in Typhon receiving award at Aquatech.”

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