New Wastewater Tech Requires Less Oxygen To Feed Microorganisms

A professor at Missouri University of Science & Technology has invented a new wastewater treatment system that he says is more energy-efficient than existing technologies.

"According to Dr. Jianmin Wang, professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at Missouri S&T, his inventions produce freshwater that is not only cleaner than wastewater treated using traditional methods, but also requires less maintenance and energy. The technology can be retrofitted in existing wastewater treatment plants to produce water that is suitable for irrigation," Processing Magazine reported.

Wang said his invention is superior to existing technologies, which consume a considerable amount of energy. He said that nearly 1 percent of the energy in the U.S. goes to wastewater treatment.

"Much of that energy is used to aerate the tanks where wastewater is treated. The energy is used to feed oxygen to the microorganisms that consume the waste, and traditionally wastewater treatment plants maintain an oxygen concentration of 2 milligrams per liter to feed the bugs in the tanks, which makes them happy," according to a university release, which cites Wang.

Wang found another approach to these microorganisms.

"The prevailing thought has been that providing less than 2 milligrams per liter of oxygen would make the microorganisms unhappy. But Wang does not believe that is an issue, saying that if you feed them at a lower concentration, such as 0.5 milligram per liter, it makes them a little less happy, but the microorganisms will live longer and enrich more – plus you use 30 percent less energy during oxygen infusion to produce the same results," the report said.

Wang has worked on numerous other wastewater projects related to this proposal, CleanTechnica reported.