Project Details

Description

The water industry is faced with a huge challenge due to the increasing volumes of sludge being produced due to increasing populations and tightening environmental quality requirements. As a result the cost of sludge processing has increased and alongside this has the use of fossil fuel based derived polyacrylamide (PAM) or polymer. There are a number of challenges associated with the use of fossil fuel derived PAM for sludge thickening and dewatering processes: i) Impact of PAM on agricultural landbank, ii) Associated carbon impact.
The project will explore potential opportunities to recover bio-polymers (both extra cellular and intracellular) from a number of wastewater derived sources using; Granular sludge, primary sludge, secondary sludge, digested sludge. The project will explore various technologies to extract the biopolymer, including Kaumera. The project would validate the yields to be recovered, explore potential applications across a wide range of industries (i.e. within water industry, agriculture, construction, packaging and potentially even cleaning agents and personal care) and offer up a route to adoption, including the business case for water companies to step into biopolymer recovery.
StatusActive
Effective start/end date1/02/2431/10/27

UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This project contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation

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