A Robust, Energy-Positive Wastewater Treatment System

The goal of this project is to integrate solar, biological, electrochemical, and membrane technologies to create and demonstrate a deployable, robust, and energy-positive wastewater treatment/utilization system for forward operating bases (FOBs) that can convert both blackwater and food wastes into potable water and renewable energy for on-site uses. The technology is scalable and would also be suitable for fixed facilities.

Four specific objectives will be carried out:

1) designing and fabricating a mobile, robust, energy-positive wastewater treatment system for a 150-soldier FOB;

2) testing and demonstrating the system under real-world operational conditions;

3) conducting techno-economic and life cycle analyses of the system, and

4) transitioning the technology.

The robust and energy-positive blackwater and food wastes treatment system is expected to provide an all-new concept for FOBs to sustainably treat waste streams, reclaim water on-site, and generate renewable energy. Consequently, it becomes considerably more likely that the system will be adopted not only as a waste management practice but also as an on-site energy generation solution. The technology developed by this project will combine and advance military bases wastewater treatment and energy utilization if fully deployed, which will significantly improve the sustainability of contingency base operations and turn an environmental liability into a valuable asset. In addition, beyond the military operations, it is intended to extend the energy-neutral wastewater treatment technology to a wide range of wastewater management systems from fixed facilities to distributed systems for both municipal and agricultural applications. The use of this new concept will dramatically change the landscape of wastewater treatment in the future.