Dr. Pathak wins 2009 Stockholm Water Prize

Stockholm, Sweden -- Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of the Sulabh Sanitation Movement in India, has been named the 2009 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate.

As the founder of the Sulabh International Social Service Organization, Dr. Pathak is known around the world for his wide ranging work in the sanitation field to improve public health, advance social progress, and improve human rights in India and other countries.

His accomplishments span the fields of sanitation technology, social enterprise, and healthcare education for millions of people in his native country, serving as a model for NGO agencies and public health initiatives around the world

Since he established the Sulabh Sanitation Movement in 1970, Dr. Pathak has worked to change social attitudes toward traditional unsanitary latrine practices in slums, rural villages, and dense urban districts, and developed cost effective toilet systems that have improved daily life and health for millions of people.

He has also waged an ongoing campaign to abolish the traditional practice of manual “scavenging” of human waste from bucket latrines in India while championing the rights of former scavengers and their families to economic opportunity, decent standards of living, and social dignity.

“The results of Dr. Pathak’s endeavors constitute one of the most amazing examples of how one person can impact the well being of millions,” noted the Stockholm Water Prize nominating committee in its citation.

“Dr. Pathak’s leadership in attaining these remarkable socio-environmental results has been universally recognized, and not least by those who have secured the freedom of human dignity as a consequence of his efforts.”

Dr. Pathak will formally receive the 2009 Stockholm Water Prize at a Royal Award Ceremony and Banquet during the World Water Week in Stockholm this coming August....Click here for the complete story

Source: http://www.siwi.org/

WABAG finalizes Sludge Treatment Plant in Beijing

Vienna, Austria -- The Xiaohongmen plant in south-east Beijing is the largest anaerobic sludge stabilization plant ever to be completed by WABAG. Using the very latest technology, the sewage sludge from the wastewater treatment plant is dealt with in five bioreactors with a total volume of 60,000 m3. The five digester towers are impressive structures that now number among the technical sights in Beijing.

The Xiaohongmen wastewater plant in the Chaoyang District, which lies in the south-eastern corner of Beijing, is one of China’s largest treatment facilities. 600,000 m3 of wastewater derived from the area along the basin of the Liangshui River, where over two million people live, are treated daily. WABAG has completed a sludge treatment plant, which is equipped with advanced technology, for the stabilization of the sludge emanating from biological wastewater cleaning.

The main plant units consist of mechanical sludge thickening, anaerobic sludge stabilization, mechanical sludge dewatering with phosphor removal, and biogas recycling.  With thickening as an initial phase, this concept allows a reduction in sludge volume and thus of the hydraulic load in the bioreactors in which the sewage sludge is subjected to controlled fermentation. The product of this process is flammable gas, which is converted into energy in heating boilers and gas motor units.

This power is employed to drive fans, while in conjunction with the heat from biogas-fired boilers, waste heat is used for sludge heating  in the digester towers and plant infrastructure heating.  All in all, these measures add up to considerable savings with regard to plant operational costs, as well as a marked improvement in the overall CO2 balance of the Xiaohongmen wastewater treatment plant.

The stabilized sewage sludge has a dry solids content of around 3 per cent. Following subsequent sludge dewatering, this content is raised to around 25 per cent, which significantly reduces volume and thus saves landfill space for further disposal. Opening up of an alternative energy source and a contribution to climate protection.

As a result of anaerobic stabilization and the possibilities for the energetic use of the resulting biogas, sewage sludge is becoming increasingly important as an alternative source of energy. Depending upon the size of the respective plant, wastewater treatment facilities can cover up to 100 per cent of their own energy requirements, or the generated power is fed into the public grid for external use.

If untreated sewage sludge is deposited on landfills, this involves enormous volumes and over the years, landfill gas, which plays an active role in the greenhouse effect, leaks into the atmosphere. Above all, the methane released has a major impact, as it is 21 times more greenhouse active than carbon dioxide. In terms of CO2 equivalents, the Xiaohongmen plant achieves a reduction in greenhouse gases of some 140,000 t annually. 

Using the BIOZONE®-AD, which has been furthered developed by WABAG, up to 40 per cent more methane can be extracted from sewage sludge, thus providing a notable improvement in both energy yield and climate protection.  In addition, the ozone employed cracks micro-pollutants in the sewage sludge such as endocrine disruptors.

Source: http://www.wabag.com/

Marysville, OH -- A technological breakthrough that dramatically reduces the cost of removing water from algae – making algae an economically feasible source of fuel – was announced today by AlgaeVenture Systems following a demonstration of the process to a select group of collaborators and funding sources.

“For nearly 40 years, it has been widely accepted that if the cost of removing, harvesting and dewatering algae could be reduced to $50 a ton, algae could become a significant source of fuel,” said Ross Youngs, CEO of Univenture, the parent corporation of AlgaeVenture Systems.

“Today we have demonstrated a truly disruptive technology that reduces that cost by more than 99 percent – from $875 per ton to $1.92 per ton,” Youngs said. “We believe that this breakthrough moves algae back into the spotlight as an economically viable, plentiful source of fuel in the future.”

The AlgaeVenture Systems breakthrough comes at a time when interest in algae is on the rise. It was originally studied as an alternative energy source after the 1970s oil embargo. However, the Department of Energy determined that even though algae offered significant capability to produce biofuels, the cost was prohibitive. The Department ended its algae program in 1996, but interest was revived when oil reached record prices in 2008.

Univenture established AlgaeVenture Systems to address the growth of algae in industrial and agricultural areas in Ohio and other areas of the Midwest that demonstrated opportunities for algae farms to be located near existing waste and waste sources. The company believes this creates the opportunity to develop a variety of products – including fuels – while cleaning up waste from land and water.

The company’s focus is to manufacture and install simplified greenhouse ponds near power plants, wastewater plants, farm waste facilities, food processing plants and other locations where the geography and climate support algae growth year-round.

“Algae farmers have the option to grow food, feed or fuel, and can change crops and be ready for harvest in less than 20 days,” Youngs said. “Algae can protect our fuel supplies because it can be grown virtually anywhere in the United States, and can benefit national security by decentralizing the fuel supply and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.”

The technology developed by AlgaeVenture Systems – studying processes that exist in nature – utilizes a variety of methods of moving water, including capillary effect, cohesion, absorption and transpiration pull – the method used by trees and plants to move water from their roots to the highest growth, often hundreds of feet straight up.

“The process is counterintuitive,” Youngs said, “because with so much water and so little algae, it is natural to want to move the algae. But moving the water instead is very efficient, and all water is recycled. In fact, there are circumstances where adding water actually improves separation and drying.”

More details about the technology can be found at:
http://www.algaevs.com/

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AdVE Desalination Pilot Plant for Larado
AdVE uses low-cost, high capacity, high efficiency compressors and heat exchangers to desalinate brackish and salty water.
 

Shanghai : New dates for IFAT China Expo IFAT China has been rescheduled to take place May 4-6, 2010 in the Shanghai's New International Expo Centre.

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Mr. Craun needs help with cheese making wastewater:

I am new to the site and have an interesting project that I would like to get some input on and share with the group. We specialize in small and decentralized water and wastewater projects.

We are working with a small dairy and artisan cheese maker. Wastewater will include whey, wash water, floor drains from dairy, and bathrooms. We are having them expand their cheese making operation to include ricotta to use up some of the whey waste strength. Still we are anticipating high COD. Ultimate disposal will be subsurface. Treatment needs to be user friendly, cheap, and protect the drainfield from biofouling (BOD max 400 to 500 mg/l preferably 150 mg/l ).

Has anybody had experience with an anaerobic CSTR? Since flows are small we can feasibly provide an HRT of 6 to 10 days. I have read research findings that indicates it is possible to get COD removal in the 75% to 90% range with high strength wastewater if we can keep the pH regulated, provide an adequate HRT, and not biologically overload the reactor.

Because the flows will be low, we are essentially a bench scale process. Initial COD is anybodies guess, but we anticipate >10,000 mg/l less than 15,000 mg/l. At 75% to 90% removal of COD, the effluent from the anaerobic CSTR could be polished by a modified HF constructed wetland to the desired target subsurface influent strength.

Your comments appreciated.  (Click here to post a reply)

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Old Dominion Engineering
olddomeng@ntelos.net

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