Our Global Impact Increases – Beijing Connects

In December 2016 Scientia Professor T David Waite was appointed as the Science and Technology Advisor of Beijing Origin Water (BOW) Membrane Technology Co Ltd.

In addition, in order to cooperate with the Torch program and strengthen the ties between BOW and UNSW, an office and laboratory has been established at BOW’s Huairo manufacturing and R&D hub on the outskirts of Beijing for Professor Waite - to provide supervision on the developmental research currently being undertaken by BOW and UNSW researchers.

Beijing OriginWater Technology Co (BOW) is one of the world’s largest companies making membrane bioreactors to treat wastewater. Newer wastewater treatment technologies, such as BOW’s membrane bioreactor units, provide smaller and more efficient methods of wastewater processing than traditional methods. BOW are partnering with Professor Waite and his Biogeochemical Engineering and Management (BioGEMS) team as well as teams working with Professors Greg Leslie and Vicki Chen in the UNESCO Membrane Science & Technology Centre to even further develop their technology.

 “They want us to help create another step in the process,” explains Waite, “to further degrade the problematic organic compounds that are retained by their membranes so that this “concentrate stream” can be recycled. We will be using a suite of new technologies centred around what are known as advanced oxidation processes".

More information about the BOW BioGEMS project

UNSW CVEN Students at BOW: While in Beijing in December, the BioGEMS team met up with two School of Civil & Environmental Engineering students. Hanxue Huang (right of pic with Prof Waite) and Yuxuan Wu (left) are both third year environmental engineering students, undertaking their industrial training in Beijing with BOW.