Treating wastewater happens to be very critical when it comes to safeguarding the environment and, at the same time, also ensuring the health when it comes to humans and animals too. It is well to be noted that wastewater that’s inadequately treated happens to have the potential to damage the ecosystem, pollute the source of water, and at the same time cause illnesses that are very severe. In spite of all this, almost 80% of the wastewater that gets produced across the globe happens to be untreated. Apparently, traditional wastewater treatment methods such as mechanical filtration or even physical sedimentation can be termed to be efficient but at the same time can be costly to execute and also energy intensive, especially in environments that are remote and quite challenging.
It is well to be noted that in the UK, around 2-3% of the energy coming from the National Grid happens to be dedicated to the treatment of wastewater. Apparently, this needs approximately 9000 water treatment locations throughout the country and also represents a major amount of energy that’s used in the sewage treatment.
If the method happened to exist so as to treat the wastewater and also simultaneously make use of it as a source of fuel, it could very well have a potential that’s as transformative as it could get. This kind of new approach would anyways go on to lead to a wastewater treatment that goes on to produce more energy as compared to what it consumes.
Wastewater Fuels – Innovative elements that save energy in sewage works
One of the companies in Warwickshire, UK, has gone ahead and developed a very distinct innovation so as to get the energy out from wastewater, thereby making use of environmentally led practices as well as circular economic systems that go on to capture hydrogen energy.
This organization at first submitted the plan, Microbial Electrolysis Cell, to the DASA Open Call in 2021. It happens to work by way of submerging many stainless steel mesh rods within the wastewater matter. This kind of matter that’s consumed is then transformed into hydrogen ions that are then further converted into hydrogen gas and then stored within the rod.
In much simpler terms, the setup goes on to function like a filter that enables the wastewater to get through. The outer material happens to be electrically conductive and at the same time encourages the microbes growth. These microbes happen to break down the organic matter in the water, thereby leading to hydrogen production, which is then collected.
How do the microbial electrolysis cells go on to operate?
- A rod assembly gets immersed in the wastewater
- Organic matter that gets consumed by the microbes is then converted into hydrogen ions
- Outside of the rod gets colonized with friendly microbes
- Organic matter that is consumed by the microbes is converted into the hydrogen ions
- Hydrogen ions go on to diffuse within the rod core
- The ions in the core are then converted into hydrogen
- The gas thereafter gets collected in the manifold which is placed above the rod and is then ready to use.
The role of the circular economy and its advantages for defence
Not only does this technology go on to support the commitment by the UK government to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as well as deduct the emissions by 78% by 2035, it also goes on to offer its push to the Ministry of Defence, whose desire is to incorporate better circular economy principles within the defence operations.
It is well to be noted that this kind of innovative setup demands lesser space and also maintenance and even equipment for that matter as compared to the wastewater treatment assets that are used at present.
The Microbial Electrolysis Cell happens to involve zero moving parts, which itself means less wear and tear, component replacement, which is way reduced, and also maintenance that’s easy. All this happens to make them a perfect choice in terms of rollout at locations that have urgent water treatment needs, like the frontline environments or wherever the circular economy happens to be very necessary.
Progress attained by pipelines
The organization that is into it had a fast and quite impressive start in the past few years. The team has gone on to encounter numerous barriers across the system development stage, like the MECs happened to be capable of capturing hydrogen rather than leaking. By way of adapting DASA’s work approach that’s adaptable and focused on flexibility as well as innovation, the organization was able to overcome the challenges, thereby further elevating as well as refining the system with an increased amount of sophistication with time.
Funding through the DASA helped the organization to begin developing the Microbial Electrolysis Cells and thereby resolve many challenges that were a must to crack so as to achieve the effectiveness of scale. This has gone on to enable to demonstrate capacity, gain more investment, grow the business, and also look out for close engagement so as to comprehend requirements and also trial the system at an all-out scale.