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Cleaning Up WastewaterIn an effort to improve the water quality of the nation’s lakes and rivers, many states are tightening limits on the discharge of nutrients, such as nitrogen from wastewater treatment plants. Some eastern states already have such regulations, while those in the Midwest and other parts of the country are being required by the U.S. EPA to explore and institute such regulations in the future. The challenge for the country’s cash-strapped wastewater treatment plants is to meet these regulations in a cost-effective manner. A new approach studied by scientists from Iowa State University and Siemens Water Technologies Corp. in Ames, Iowa, may provide the answer. The technology was pilot tested at a municipal plant for the City of Boone, Iowa. The project was co-funded by the Company Assistance unit of the Institute for Physical Research and Technology. The objective of the research is to reduce total nitrogen in wastewater in an economical manner. A substantial portion of the nitrogen in water bodies comes from wastewater treatment plants. Excessive nitrogen (and phosphorus) in these waters cause algae and phytoplankton blooms, depleting oxygen in the water. The proposed solution uses an existing filter to promote biological growth to enhance denitrification. In the denitrification process, nitrates are converted to nitrogen gas biologically with the use of a carbon source as the substrate. Initial results show that the process removes more than 200 pounds of nitrates per cubic foot of media per day. The process reduces total nitrogen to well below 3 mg/L, which is the most stringent regulatory limit in the U.S. Very KnowledgeableSiemens Water Technologies delivers cost-effective, reliable water and wastewater treatment systems and services to municipal and industrial customers worldwide. Rohan Wikramanayake, director of process technology, General Filter and Microfloc products at Siemens, says his company came to Iowa State for technical expertise and laboratory assistance. Say Kee Ong, a professor of civil, construction, and environmental engineering at Iowa State, was the principal investigator. Ong’s group is conducting research on removal of nitrogen using sand filters with a slightly different approach, and this project fit into that effort. For the Siemen’s project, Ong and his team provided technical advice on data evaluation as well as laboratory support and sample analysis. “The technical help from Dr. Ong was extremely helpful. He is very knowledgeable about the subject,” says Wikramanayake. To make certain the technology would work in actual applications, the Iowa State scientists worked with Siemens and the City of Boone to run a pilot-scale reactor. Roy Martin, superintendent, and Dave Mozena, assistant superintendent at the City of Boone Water Pollution Control Facility, provided operational and technical help in the study. “They were very helpful in the setup of the equipment,” Wikramanayake says. The Right PeopleThe effort has already garnered great interest from the wastewater treatment industry. Wikramanayake and Ong co-authored and presented a paper on the effort to the Water Environment Federation Technical Exhibition and Conference held in San Diego October 16, 2007. “This is a very prestigious conference,” Wikramanayake says. Indeed, some 200 water treatment practitioners, engineers, scientists, government officials and academicians from around the world packed the room for the presentation. Siemens will soon be implementing the technology on a full-scale installation. If successful, the technology could help the company sell more of its wastewater treatment systems and provide easy upgrades for current customers at a low cost. Both Wikramanayake and Ong cite the help of Kim Bentley, a technology commercialization associate with IPRT Company Assistance, as essential in the project. “She got the project moving fast and got me to the right people and helped complete the paperwork,” says Wikramanayake. Ong adds, “Kim helped by providing and setting the contracts in place. Without her assistance and working with Siemens, it will not be possible to develop this collaboration,” Ong says. IPRT works for Iowa |
Quick LookIPRT Company Assistance helped organize and fund a project with Siemens Water Technologies Inc. of Ames, Iowa, and an Iowa State University researcher. The project looked at ways to reduce nitrogen in wastewater in an economical manner. IPRT's part of the project was led by Kim Bentley, program lead in IPRT's Technology Commercialization Group.
Rohan Wikramanayake of Siemens Water Technologies Corp. in Ames inspects new filtration technology being tested at the City of Boone’s municipal water plant.
Quote“Kim [Bentley] helped by providing and setting the contracts in place. Without her assistance and working with Siemens, it will not be possible to develop this collaboration.” Say Kee Ong, professor of civil, construction, and environmental engineering at Iowa State
Contact UsFor more information on how IPRT can help your company with extended projects or contract research, please contact: Brian Muff
Lynne Mumm Technology Commercialization Group Applied Sciences Complex II |
Institute for Physical Research and Technology
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