Microbial Addition Technology for Enhanced Biological Wastewater Treatment

Why is it important?
Domestic and industrial wastewater has contributed to a large amount of pollution, particularly within freshwater systems. It is known that many of these wastewaters are highly toxic to the surrounding environment and therefore it is necessary to create a cost-effective method of trying to cope with the complex compounds found within these wastewaters.
Bioaugmentation is such a method that involves the addition of microorganisms that are selected specifically for their specialized characteristics, with the aim of enhancing removal of target pollutants (Raper et al, 2018). With the addition of supplementary micro-organisms, the process has the capabilities of improving performance within certain wastewater treatment systems. The technology also has the potential to reduce the capital cost of wastewater treatment plants, both centralised and decentralised. In particular, this could make the cost of decentralised plants installed in low- and middle-income countries more affordable to improve sanitation in local areas.

What don't we know?
Current bioaugmentation studies have mainly focussed on laboratory-scaled research with synthetic wastewater, rather than the process performance directly in large-scale wastewater treatment system.

How will the project be carried out?
The research will initially involve laboratory-based experiments investigating microbial growth (particularly using a respirometer) and survival in aerobic and anaerobic bioprocesses relevant to wastewater treatment. In the latter stages of the project, we will focus on implementing a "snake oil" bioaugmentation product into a full-scale WWTP, to test the effect it has on the final product. A side-stream reactor will be used for bacterial growth as to allow the inoculated microorganisms to become fully acclimatised to its environment.

What will be the impact?
To meet net zero carbon targets, reduce capital and operating costs of WWTS, removal of certain contaminants effectively and quickly and finally meet better effluent compliance in WWTS's.

Water-WISER will train a cohort of 50 British research engineers and scientists and equip them to work in challenging environments both in the low-income settings of rapidly growing poor cities and in the changing urban environment of the UK, Europe and other regions with a historic endowment of aging infrastructure. The vision is for a generation of engineers with the skills to deliver the trans-disciplinary innovations needed to ensure that future water, waste and sanitation infrastructure is resilient to the stresses posed by rapid urbanisation, global climate change and increasingly extreme natural and man-made disasters. Our alumni will address the urgent need to re-imagine urban spaces as net contributors to ecological and environmental well-being rather than being net users of vital resources such as energy, nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon. These new leaders will be an essential resource if the UK is to deliver on its commitment to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 6 which calls for universal access to safely managed water and sanitation services, within planetary and local ecological boundaries. This next generation of research engineers will enable UK-based engineering consultancies, manufacturers, and utility companies to grow their share of the expanding global market for water and waste services, for example; in the water services industry from 3% to 10% (an increase of £33 billion per annum) by 2030, and attract significant inward investment.
The research which Water-WISER cohorts enable will form the basis of new innovations in the design and delivery of resilient infrastructure and services. Innovations developed by Water-WISER graduates will inform how growing cities are designed and built in the global south and will be used to inform the re-engineering and replacement of the aging infrastructure on which the UK's water and waste services are currently reliant. Our alumni will form the new generation of leaders who will play a central role in securing a larger share of the international water and waste management consultancy market to UK consultancies. The network of expertise and skills created by Water-WISER will enhance potential for collaborations between major UK players (for example strengthening links between UK consultancy, the Department for International Development, and leading UK water agencies such as WaterAid and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor) and between UK companies and partners in the global south including international investors such as the World Bank, European Investment Bank, African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation. Graduates of Water-WISER will enter industry, academia and development agencies having spent a substantial period (minimum of six months) embedded in an industry or development partner organisation delivering their field-based research. Water-WISER students will thus gain a unique combination of trans-disciplinary training, field experience and cohort networking; they are destined for leadership roles in UK and international engineering and development consultancies, academia, international development banks, international agencies such as the United Nations and international non-governmental organisations.