WERF Donates Biosolids Patent to the Public

The Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) on Jan. 28 donated to the public a patent it was issued for a cost-effective process that will help utilities achieve the highest standards for biosolids. By achieving these high standards, Class A for pathogens, jurisdictions will have the greatest flexibility in distributing their biosolids for use as a soil amendment.

By donating the patent to the public, the technology is protected for use by the water quality community. Through these efforts, WERF continues to support innovation and application of technology to complex water quality problems and encourage the next generation of engineers and scientists.

The patent evolved from a WERF-sponsored project, Pathogen Destruction Efficiency in High Temperature Digestion, that developed a high-temperature anaerobic digestion process that can provide a low-cost method for achieving Class A pathogen standards in biosolids at both large and small wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The WERF board and the contractor for the project, East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) in California, have agreed to officially donate the patent to the public.

"As the lead investigator in this joint research effort, EBMUD supports the decision to donate the patent to the public domain," said David Williams, Director of Wastewater at EBMUD. "It is our desire to see that research, which produces technological innovations, be widely available and distributed so that the greatest public good can be achieved. We are hopeful and very pleased that through the release of this patent on our thermophilic digestion process, we are helping to better protect public health and environment." WW/

The official dedication ceremony took place Jan. 28, 2003, at the board meeting of EBMUD in Oakland. WERF Board Chair Steven T. Hayashi, General Manager & District Engineer of Union Sanitary District, Union City, CA, was on hand to present the plaque.

"An important aspect of WERF's mission is to provide publicly accessible water resources research," said Hayashi. "The dedication of the patent process to the public good will ensure that public agencies and others have free access to this process that allows biosolids to be managed responsibly and cost-effectively."

The final phase of this project, currently in progress, is aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness of the process at full-scale at one EBMUD's plants. The key objective will be to obtain a process to further reduce pathogens — those processes that EPA designates as providing Class A biosolids equivalency for full-scale thermophilic anaerobic digestion process.

For more information on this and other WERF research, go to www.werf.org and click on the "Project Database Search."