Visionary Thinking And Practical Application Result From WERF Awards

By Carita Parks and Carrie Capuco, WERF

Each year, the WERF Endowment for Innovation in Applied Water Quality Research presents the Paul L. Busch Award to support significant water quality research and its practical application in the environment. The WERF Endowment honors Paul L. Busch, Ph.D., with this award because he so completely embodied the spirit of creativity, visionary thinking, and practical application of scientific research — a spirit that is essential to passing on a clean-water environment to future generations. The award carries with it a $100,000 research grant to support and promote work that will bring new benefits to the water quality community and the water-using public they serve.

Since 2001, WERF has given the Paul L. Busch Award to 12 deserving recipients.  Past recipients include: Robert Nerenberg, Ph.D., Volodymyr Tarabara, Ph.D., Kartik Chandran, Ph.D., Jaehong Kim, Ph.D., Andrew Schuler, Ph.D., Paige Novak, Ph.D., Paul Westerhoff, Ph.D., Daniel R. Ronuera, Ph.D., Bruce Logan, Ph.D., David Sedlak, Ph.D., Lutgarde Raskin, Ph.D., Nancy Love, Ph.D. With the nomination deadline growing near, in 2013, another will be awarded.  WERF recently caught up with a few of the past winners to discuss what has happened with their research since receiving the Paul L. Busch Award research grant.

Harvesting Energy from Wastewater Treatment
Bruce Logan, Ph.D., Penn State University (2004)
“In 2004, I proposed the idea of turning wastewater treatment into a power plant,” explained Logan. “My idea was to use the recently discovered ability of microorganisms to transfer electrons outside the cell to solid substrates. The project was to directly harvest electrical power from microorganisms using microbial fuel cells, accomplishing both energy production and wastewater treatment. Nearly 10 years has passed, and not only have we made substantial engineering progress, but the scientific discoveries have been exciting as well. Our discoveries ignited a sub-discipline of microbiology called “electromicrobiology.” The Paul L. Busch funds primarily supported applied research studies aimed at translating our discoveries into practice. In 2009, the remaining funds were used to support a 1000-liter pilot scale test at a winery in California to make hydrogen and methane gases from winery wastewater. Today, there are tens of thousands of papers published on MFCs and other microbial electrochemical technologies, and a new society (ISMET) was recently formed to help researchers in this field communicate and meet through conferences. MFCs and these technologies are not yet commercialized, but the future is bright with several startup and large, international companies working to move these new technologies into practice.”

Characterizing and Understanding the Risk of Nanomaterials in Wastewater Effluent
Paul Westerhoff, Ph.D., Arizona State University (2006)
“At the time that I won the Paul Busch Award, my research team was investigating the fate of commercial nanomaterials in drinking water treatment plants and their potential toxicity. Such materials were becoming increasingly common in manufactured goods and were frequently found in products such as diverse cosmetics and stain-resistant paints. Little was known about how these nanomaterials found their way into drinking water supplies. An obvious, but overlooked source was upstream at wastewater treatment plants. My research examined the effects of nanomaterials on wastewater treatment by studying their interactions in order to improve treatment plant operations. Since receiving the award, I have been able to enhance or try new research on nanomaterials, look at sources and fate of nanoparticles and whether they turn into biosolids or liquid effluent, and develop standardized testing protocols of nanoparticles during wastewater treatment.”

Converting Sunlight into UV Light for Water Disinfection
Jaehong Kim, Ph.D., Georgia Tech University (2009)
“I received the Paul L. Busch Award in recognition for research my team initiated in the development and verification of lanthanide-doped silicate based upconversion phosphors that convert visible light to germicidal UV light to effect disinfection. We have developed a synthetic route for the first-generation material tailored to antimicrobial surface application and have also been optimizing the material via various dopants, hosts, and synthetic approaches. Currently, my research focuses on enhancing the light conversion efficiency of antimicrobial/biocidal surface coating materials for commercial applications in locations such as hospitals and public facilities. Our team is also exploring various other technologies, including hybridization with semiconductor photo catalysts for water treatment applications.”

From Greenhouse Gas to Green Fuel
Kartik Chandran, Ph.D., Columbia University (2010)
“Support from the Paul L. Busch Award has been utilized to successfully develop techniques and a bioprocess technology for achieving the conversion of methane to methanol using ammonia oxidizing bacteria. Since initiating the research during mid-2011, we have gone through several process options for converting methane to methanol using ammonia oxidizing bacteria. One significant finding was the role that reducing equivalents play during methanol production. We have also characterized the process kinetics of methane to methanol oxidation. Thus far, all the testing has been in the laboratory. Nevertheless, we envision that integrating this technology into the biological nutrient removal process would enhance nitrogen removal by converting nitrogen to nitrite using the ammonia oxidizing bacteria, and then channeling the methanol these bacteria produce back into the system to serve as an external carbon source for denitrification of the nitrite produced. Additionally, a key link between the technology developed through that Paul L. Busch Award and the biofuel industry, specifically biodiesel has been identified. For instance, one of the main costs for biodiesel manufacture is the cost of methanol. We are currently exploring integrating our methane to methanol technology into the biodiesel manufacture pipeline, as part of a project in Africa.”