The Water Research Foundation (WRF) has granted $200,000 for research into low-energy nutrient removal at water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs).
For WRRFs, nutrient management is key to addressing water quality issues in watersheds challenged with rapid urbanization and a growing population. While conventional biological nutrient removal (BNR) technologies are effective, they are energy and cost-intensive.
The project, titled Advancing Low-Energy Biological Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal, will develop research and guidelines for sustainable, low-energy biological nutrient removal (BNR) at WRRFs. The approximately $1 million project is partly funded by WRF’s Research Priority Program, with $800,000 in-kind contributions from several utility partners.
Led by a principal doctorate research team of Jose Jimenez of Brown and Caldwell, Belinda Sturm of the University of Kansas, and Leon Downing of Black & Veatch, the project will advance low dissolved oxygen (DO) BNR to intensify wastewater treatment processes and significantly reduce energy demands and chemical dependency.
“This important study seeks to pave the way for full-scale implementation of low DO BNR to improve effluent quality while significantly reducing the energy footprint of water resource recovery facilities. Our team is proud to partner with WRF to help utilities meet stringent nutrient effluent limits while maximizing the use of existing infrastructure,” said Sturm.
The research will utilize bench-scale, pilot-scale, and full-scale testing at several WRRFs throughout the U.S. to cover a host of influent and operational conditions to develop a fundamental understanding of low DO BNR implementation at WRRFs. Additionally, the research aims to develop innovative process control strategies, combining aeration control with process intensification strategies such as selective wasting and sludge densification.
Scheduled for completion by year-end 2022, project results will provide a practitioner’s blueprint/guidance document which synthesizes key findings for implementing low DO BNR for use by utilities, consulting firms, and other practitioners.
The guidance will:
- Explain the fundamental mechanisms associated with low DO BNR operation.
- Provide a decision tree for low DO BNR compared to other low energy BNR technologies to assist in utility decision-making.
- Provide design, operation, and process modeling guidelines for low DO BNR.
- Outreach and technology transfer to utilities evaluating low energy BNR technologies with a view to full-scale process development.
At its core, the project seeks to reduce the environmental footprint and ratepayer costs of essential wastewater treatment.
