Wastewater-treatment system could also produce electricity

A multi-disciplinary team led by Glasgow University has received £1m from the EPSRC to create a bacteria-based system for treating waste in areas on the outskirts of cities that have poor or no sewage facilities.

Scientists will bio-engineer bacteria to break down large amounts of solid waste using anaerobic digestion (without oxygen) in a reactor based on existing technology used by distilleries and pharmaceutical companies.

They hope to be able to capture the gas from the process to generate electricity. Because the system would not produce other waste products, they also hope it could improve wastewater treatment in the developed world.

An estimated one billion people worldwide live in peri-urban zones that only have open sewers and pit latrines rather than water-based sewage systems, principal investigator Dr Gavin Collins told The Engineer.

‘We can use anaerobic digestion where we can pump high volumes of high-solid wastewater in to achieve a much more efficient system and at the same time not pump energy into the system because it doesn’t need air.