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Wastewater treatment facilities protect neighbouring watersheds from harm, but often with a high price in terms of energy usage. "Current wastewater treatment consumes a lot of resources and it is not efficient or sustainable," says McMaster University researcher Younggy Kim. "Many communities spend a substantial amount of energy on the treatment of wastewater. And as regulations for wastewater treatment and sludge disposal become stricter, energy consumption increases." But what if there was a way to increase the efficiency of wastewater [...]

Around the world, wastewater treatment plant operators face the same conundrum: what to do with the biosolids that they spend so much effort removing from the wastewater. Some apply it to land. After all, this organic sludge is rich in nutrients. However, it can also contain a cocktail of different contaminants, from household cleaners, paint and solvents to industrial chemicals. Other treatment plants incinerate their biosolids. That’s a very expensive undertaking, since drying and burning such a wet material requires [...]

Better, faster, cheaper. It’s the mantra of wastewater treatment plant engineers around the world. That’s why more of them are focusing attention on unlocking the full potential of anaerobic digestion: using the biogas produced to generate electricity and transforming sludge into valuable fertilizer. Now, an Ontario collaboration funded by SOWC is giving them the design tools they need to do exactly that. In a civil engineering lab in Hamilton’s McMaster University, Dr. Younggy Kim believes the key lies in high-temperature [...]