Western Engineering

Western Engineering investigates freezing technique for water treatment

Western Engineering investigates freezing technique for water treatment

Western Engineering researchers have teamed up with Core Geoscience Services Inc. (CoreGeo) in a project to investigate the use of cryopurification – water treatment by freezing – for treating contaminated water in a mine in Northern Canada. It is a nature-inspired technology based on physics pointing to ice crystals as essentially made up of pure water. “When contaminated water is gradually frozen, ice crystals of pure water grow while the contaminants are rejected from the crystal structure into the liquid phase. The technology has shown to be effective for the removal of contaminants from aqueous solutions and has the potential to decontaminate water resources to provide a safe and clean water supply,” explained Ajay Ray, professor, department of chemical and biochemical engineering.