Wastewater remediation via controlled hydrocavitation

Abstract

Controlled hydrodynamic cavitation is an energy- and chemicals-saving technology increasingly applied to water sanitation and wastewater remediation via mechanical, oxidative, and thermal degradation of chemical and biological pollutants, including recalcitrant contaminants. Reviewing the advances that have allowed hydrocavitation to emerge as an economically and technically viable environmental technology, we identify the key design parameters that decide its efficacy in degrading biological and chemical contaminants. The ongoing renewable energy boom, lowering the cost of electricity across the world, will only accelerate the adoption of hydrodynamic cavitation as an eminent technology of our common path to sustainability, with energy and clean water access for all.