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Creating a sustainable future for wastewater requires a concerted effort to reward and encourage new ideas, thinking, and expertise, whether from within the water sector or from bold innovators new to our field.
FREMONT, CA: Wastewater treatment plants are generally large, complex, and heavily used, making them difficult to sustain. Sustainable wastewater solutions involve not only considering environmental sustainability but also maintaining a level of service that the country has relied on for a long time.
Wastewater transport and treatment is energy intensive – and the production of this energy can contribute to climate-damaging emissions. This also means that our solutions will not overcome the issue without upgrading our wastewater management technology. Here are the following technologies that can help us do that:
Thermal Hydrolysis: Waste management begins at collection, but the most challenging stages are the separation and processing steps. Conventional wastewater treatment facilities must plan for large amounts of sludge produced during industrial wastewater treatment. In contrast, thermal hydrolysis facilities view sludge as a useful energy source rather than trash. This process helps separate the solid and liquid components of the sewage and then further processes the solid waste into compostable biogas generation plants.
Internet of things: In the Internet of Things (IoT), gadgets, information, and other technical elements enable businesses to operate more smoothly without human input. The IoT is slowly permeating the commercial and daily worlds. It is essential in wastewater treatment in a variety of ways. The majority of IoT systems collect data that is helpful for functional intelligence. Sensor monitoring can use IoT sensors to gather data on performance and reliability, operational efficiencies, water quality, and pollution. It is riskier to use wastewater because it is dissolved or immersed in germs, chemicals, and contaminants. Treatment facilities use IoT sensors to identify the presence of these harmful components in water. Following that, other methods can be used to eliminate these pollutants. The information gathered by IoT water sensors can be used for data-driven remedial actions at various points of the wastewater supply chain. These insights provide crucial information about the changing state of water supplies and equipment.
Microbial Fuel Cells: This technology uses microbes to treat wastewater and is another technology that performs three tasks at the same time: treating wastewater, generating clean power, and storing energy at the same time. The bacteria produce charged electrons that can generate power by digesting wastewater sludge. In controlled laboratory conditions, researchers have already produced significant power by directing electrons generated by bacterial metabolism to an electrode under controlled laboratory conditions. The wastewater management process will only be able to keep up if we devise and adopt new ways to make it more efficient. Separating and processing wastewater can be accomplished with thermal hydrolysis and microbial fuel cells, while IoT sensors can collect data.
