WERF awards contracts for research on innovative water and wastewater technologies in US

US based Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) has awarded three contracts to University of California, Irvine, University of Kansas and Virginia Tech to explore innovative water and wastewater technology solutions.

The first research project to be conducted by the University of California, Irvine will be on ‘Carbon Capture and Management Strategies for Energy Harvest from Wastewater (U3R14)’.

The study is expected to develop the tools necessary for the use of carbon capture technologies, whether existing or retrofitted into existing infrastructure. The tools will be in compliance with the permits and are likely to maximise energy recovery.

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine aim to develop process controllers and models which can be applied to all carbon capture technologies regardless of influent conditions and effluent requirements.

The research will be conducted at two pilot sites at DC Water and Hampton Roads Sanitation District.

Second of the three contracts has been awarded to the University of Kansas to continue its research on Balancing Flocs and Granules for Activated Sludge Process Intensification in Plug Flow Configurations (U1R14).

The research is likely to formulate strategies and design criteria which can stimulate granulation in existing activated sludge processes to improve overall settleability and facilitate simultaneous nutrient removal.

Eight municipal utilities in three countries, eight engineering firms, and three universities are part of the research team which will conduct pilot-scale and full-scale trials, process modeling, and more under the project.

Virgina Tech has won the third contract for developing a wastewater pipe deterioration model.

WERF had previously supported the project in Phase I and II as a part of its Strategic Asset Management Challenge.

Wastewater pipe, failure modes and mechanisms, consequences of failure, and developed data structures and data collection protocols and methodologies were identified in the initial phase of the project.

The research team had formulated a standard procedure for rating the performance/condition of wastewater pipes in the second phase.

Phase III Development of Wastewater Pipeline Deterioration Model (U4R14) is the final task to be undertaken with WERF support.

The research team will explore mathematical modeling methodologies under the phase which will include advanced artificial intelligence techniques to offer the utility managers a practical and efficient technique for predicting wastewater pipeline performance and estimating end of remaining life using deterioration curves to assist in decision making.