THE WATER PAGES
Isle chairman and host of the Water Action Platform webinars.
“As Philip Dunne MP, chair of the UK Parliament Environmental Audit Committee, said during the keynote address, there needs a united voice to communicate with the public.
“The good news is a solution is already underway. A public-facing, multimedia, positive news platform all about water is due to launch later this year. Called Make Water Famous, it will be run by a group of journalists with extensive experience of working and around the water industry.”
Membrane technology
As well as the the usual Water Action Platform updates, the open webinar will also feature an innovative new technology from Agua Via, a UK company bringing to market a low-energy, high-purity technology based on unique one- atomic-layer thick membranes capable of delivering water for domestic, industrial and agricultural use. Water can be produced from any water source, including wastewater remediation and desalination, at the lowest energy possible.
In addition, Piers Clark will be interviewing Dr
Gurdev Singh, deputy director of the technology department at PUB - Singapore’s national water agency - about the utility’s Global Innovation Challenge. The initiative seeks to accelerate the discovery and adoption of digital solutions and smart technologies to improve operational excellence and meet future water needs.
Hosted by global technology and business consultancy Isle, the Water Action Platform is a global initiative that brings water companies together to share knowledge and innovation across the world. The webinar takes place on Thursday 26 August at 7.30am and 4.30pm BST.
How the water industry can achieve Net Zero
The water industry aims to achieve Net Zero by 2030 and that’s less than a decade away. With a carbon footprint of 2.8 million tonnes per year, is that goal realistic? Russell Bright, CEO of I-Phyc, explains how it is possible for the industry to massively reduce its carbon emissions.
For some industries, Net Zero involves relatively obvious changes, like switching to e-vehicles, using hydrogen fuel cells in power-intensive processes, and generating renewable energy on site. But for wastewater, a serious contributor to its carbon footprint is inherent to an integral part of the job, phosphorus removal.
Phosphorus has to be removed from wastewater to prevent eutrophication – the growth of phosphorus-eating algae – in our public waterways. The process the wastewater industry normally uses to do this involves ferric sulphate dosing, and it comes with an enormous carbon cost. On top of that, there’s also the carbon cost of importing ferric, and there’s the often overlooked and largely unavoidable carbon cost of preventing the growth of algae.
That’s right, algae actually sequester carbon. We think of algae as the enemy because algal blooms can be detrimental to the environment
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and can present a health hazard to humans and animals, but we wouldn’t exist without algae.
Algae first appeared on Earth around 2.7 billion years ago. It took off slowly at first, but then around 2.3 billion years ago the planet underwent the Great Oxygenation Event, caused by the exponential growth of a type of ocean-dwelling algae called phytoplankton, which absorbed and locked away carbon and gave off oxygen.
Just how great was this Great Oxygenation Event? Well, 50% of oxygen you’re breathing came from an algal cell. Today there is 38 gigatons of CO2locked away in the deep oceans thanks to phytoplankton, making it the single largest carbon store on the planet.
So, given that algae absorb both phosphorus and carbon dioxide, are we missing a trick here? Is there an obvious answer to our problems? In short, yes.
It is absolutely possible to fight fire with fire, so to speak, by harnessing the natural power of algae in a controlled way to remove phosphorus from wastewater, to prevent the growth of algae in our waterways. In fact, it’s not only possible, but the technology is also developed and already in situ at our customers’ plants. And it’s naturally carbon
| October 2021 |
www.draintraderltd.com negative.
Our algae-based bio-P removal system can lock away 17 tonnes of CO2per year at a 1,000 population equivalent works. Should it be adopted across just 25% of the UKs population wastewater treatment plants, that equates to 1.5 million tonnes of CO2sequestered from the atmosphere per year.
Why would it be adopted so widely? Well, it’s extremely effective at removing phosphorus from wastewater, comfortably achieving P levels of 0.2mg/l, while levels below 0.1mg/l are possible, making it far more effective than two-point ferric sulphate dosing which can barely reach 0.5mg/l at smaller plants.
It’s completely modular and can therefore fit any size plant in the UK, and it is not dependent on flow. There is no sludge removal required, the algae are recyclable and the P that is removed from the water can be harvested as a resource in its own right.
So, can we harness some of that amazing carbon-negative algae magic on land? Yes, and happily it’s just a by-product of another job it does just as effectively. With I-Phyc, achieving Net Zero and beyond it is more than possible for the wastewater industry if they are willing to take the leap.
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