Power Electronic Pulse Generators for Water Treatment Application: A Review

Water treatment is one of the most important issues for all walks of life around the world. Different from the conventional water treatment technology, the advanced power electronic pulse technology has unique features and advantages for the modern water treatment. Unfortunately, there is no literature reported to describe them in a comprehensive and systematic way. To fill this gap, an overview of modern power electronic pulse generators (PPGs) for water treatment is presented. This article, for the first time, classifies the different types of PPGs from the viewpoint of pulse formation. Each of them is discussed, and the advantages and disadvantages are compared and summarized. Aside from that, this article presents the development and trend of the pulse generators suitable for the specified water treatment processes such as electrolysis, sterilization, and discharge degradation. Finally, a list of more than 100 relevant technical papers is also appended for a quick reference.