Thermal Energy Recovery from Drinking water

Drinking water utilities aim to reduce their climate footprint. One of the possibilities is to recover thermal energy from drinking water and to use this recovered energy as alternative for fossil fuel. Due to climate change the maximum and minimum temperature of distributed water respectively increases and decreases. This is especially the case when surface water is used for the production of drinking water. This phenomenon may increase the potentials of thermal energy recovery from drinking water.

Due to the recovery of thermal energy from drinking water the temperature of the water will change. In case of thermal energy recovery for cooling purposes, the temperature of the drinking water will increase, while in case of thermal energy recovery for heating purposes the temperature of the drinking water will decrease. It is unknown whether this instantaneous temperature change has an effect on the microbiological quality of the drinking water. In the Netherlands the standard for the drinking water  temperature is a maximum of 25 oC at the tap.

In the project the aim is to reveal to what extent thermal energy recovery from drinking water affects the microbiological quality of the drinking water, and to determine the maximum temperature increase that can be allowed without unacceptable negative effects on the drinking water quality. The following research questions will be addressed in the research:

  • Which parameters contribute to the change in microbiological drinking water quality and the biological stability of the drinking water during thermal energy recovery from drinking water?
  • How does the microbial composition (microbiome) change during thermal energy recovery from drinking water? Is there a difference between the bulkwater and the biofilm on the wall of the pipe material?
  • To what extent does thermal energy recovery from drinking water affect the presence and growth of (opportunistic) pathogenic micro organisms in the drinking water?

The research will result in a technical and hygienic safe design of thermal energy recovery from drinking water and standards for the maximum acceptable temperature change due to thermal energy recovery from drinking water.

Project partners
Delft University of Technology, Waternet

Funded by
Waternet, Topsector Water TKI Watertechnology

Project coordinator
Jan Peter van der Hoek

Period
2015-2019

 

Te gebruiken afbeeldingen / figuren: logo’s Topsector Water en Waternet