Beijing Project
Beijing Origin Water (B.O.W) - UNSW Research initiative for Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery
A new wastewater treatment and resource recovery collaboration between BioGEM and Beijing OriginWater will harness the power of the Torch Innovation Precinct at UNSW to provide affordable clean water to the people of China.
Funded by OriginWater and supported by the new Torch Innovation Precinct at UNSW (an unprecedented $100 million innovation partnership with China that will deliver a major boost in research and development funding at UNSW), this project has its sights set firmly on not only helping B.O.W achieve commercial success but, ultimately, providing affordable clean water to the people of China.
Traditional wastewater treatment technologies use either sedimentation or sand filters, but such techniques require large spaces to operate. Newer technologies such as membrane bioreactor units have therefore been developed as smaller and more efficient methods of wastewater processing. B.O.W’s membranes are submerged in a tank about the size of a small room. The company's track record shows how successful their technology has been so far, but as the company sees considerable scope for improvement, they have funded the BioGEMS group to continue to innovate with them. This collaboration follows on from a successful ARC Linkage project.
The next step in the process is to further degrade the problematic organic compounds that are able to go through the membranes using a suite of new technologies centred around what are known as advanced oxidation processes.
