Time: July 8, 2020

Venue: Zoom ID 93090002609 (Password: 386018)

Reporter: Jaehong Kim

The rural developing world faces disproportional inequity in drinking water access, where point-of-use water treatment technologies often fail to achieve adequate levels of pathogen removal, especially for viruses. Solar disinfection (SODIS) is practiced because of its universal applicability and low implementation cost, though the excessively long treatment time and lack of safety indication hinder wider implementation. This study presents an enhanced SODIS scheme that utilizes a common food dye as a photosensitizer to produce singlet oxygen for virus inactivation and to indicate the completion of water disinfection through photobleaching color change. This talk also summarizes our recent efforts to explore plant-extracted photosensitizers to advance this concept for applications in more realistic settings.

Ryberg, E.; Chu, C.; Kim, J.H. “Edible Dye-Enhanced Solar Disinfection with Safety Indication.” Environmental Science & Technology, 2018, 52, 13361-13369

Chu, C.; Ryberg, E.; Loeb, S.; Suh, M.J.; Kim, J.H. “Water Disinfection in Rural Areas Demands Unconventional Solar Technologies.” Accounts of Chemical Research, 2019, 52, 5, 1187-1195

Jaehong Kim is currently Henry P. Becton Sr. Professor of Engineering and Department Chair of Chemical and Environmental Engineering in School of Engineering and Applied Science at Yale University. His areas of interest include: 1) environmental application of nanomaterials and single atom catalysts; 2) development of photoluminescence / photocatalysis technology for environmental and energy application; and 3) on-site synthesis of water treatment chemicals and catalytic advanced oxidation processes. Kim received B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemical and biological engineering from Seoul National University in Korea in 1995 and 1997, respectively, and a Ph.D. degree in environmental engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2002. After graduation, he joined the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology where he later held the title of Georgia Power Distinguished Professor and Associate Chair for Undergraduate Programs until he moved to Yale University in 2013. He has taught undergraduate courses such as Water Quality Engineering, Environmental Technology in the Developing World, and Environmental Engineering Laboratory, and graduate courses such as Physicochemical Processes and Design of Drinking Water Treatment Facilities. He is a recipient of various awards including Ackerman Award for Teaching and Mentoring from Yale University (2017), Bill Shultz Junior Faculty Teaching Award from School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (2013), Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from American Society of Civil Engineers (2013), Best Paper Award from American Chemical Society (2012, 2018, 2020), Paul L. Busch Award from Water Environment Research Foundation (2009), Excellence in Research Award from Georgia Institute of Technology (2009), and CETL/BP Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award from Georgia Institute of Technology (2007). He is currently serving as an associate editor of a newly launched journal, ACS ES&T Engineering.