The American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the American Membrane Technology Association (AMTA) have announced awardees at the 2022 Membrane Technology Conference & Exposition (MTC) in Las Vegas.
This year’s Robert O. Vernon Operator of the Year Award went to Brian Ward of the City of Fargo Water Treatment Plant in Fargo, N.D. The award recognizes outstanding contributions by a plant operator working at a membrane filtration, desalination, or water reuse facility that resulted in significant, long-term improvement in water production and/or water reuse.
The associations awarded Membrane Facility of the Year to the Robert W. Sokoll Joint Venture Surface Water Treatment Plant, which provides drinking water and rural farm use water for about 50,000 customers in Waxahachie, Texas. The award recognizes an outstanding water/wastewater facility that uses membrane technology with high efficiency in an environmentally friendly approach.
The Austin F. McCormack Jr. Award, which recognizes and honors membrane related contributions made by a young professional to the water or public health community, went to Rodrigo A. Tackaert, senior engineer at Trussell Technologies.
The associations awarded Membrane Treatment Best Paper to “Managing and treating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in membrane concentrates” by Emily W. Tow, et al.
Additional announced awards include:
- Best Exhibit: Avista Technologies Inc.
- Best Paper: “Closed Circuit High-Pressure Membrane Systems for the Separation of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances” by Andrew Safulko
- Best Poster: “Retrofit of Hollow Fiber MBR with Submerged Ceramic Membranes for Fats, Oils and Hydrocarbon Management in Industrial Reuse Plant” by Stanton Smith and Abdurrehman Rashid
- Best Student Paper: “Flux and Antifouling Performance of Bioinspired Liquid Infused Membranes” by Rushabh Shah
- Best Student Poster: “Urea Recovery and Fouling Mitigation of Fresh Human Urine Using Cross-flow Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration” by Lucas Crane
