Guangdong-Technion Leadership in Science and Technology Lecture by Prof. Bruce Rittmann-Arizona State University

Title

Moving Wastewater From Treatment to Resource 将废水从污染处理到资源转化

Speaker: Bruce Rittmann

Director, Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology

Regents’ Professor of Environmental Engineering, Arizona State University

Host

Prof. Ji-Dong Gu (GTIIT, ESE)

Time and Location

Apr. 20 2023, Thursday, 11:00am-12:00pm(Beijing Time), E403 (Educational Building, 4th floor)

Language

English

Abstract

While wastewater treatment has focused on removing water pollutants, many of the pollutants are valuable resources if recovered in a useful form.  This presentation focuses on novel means to capture the energy value in “used waters,” including domestic wastewater.  New developments in anaerobic membrane biofilm reactors (to generate methane) and microbial electrochemical cells (to generate electrical power or hydrogen gas) now make it feasible to achieve energy-positive treatment of the BOD.  After recovery of the energy from used water, most of the N and P are released as inorganic forms that can be recovered for recycle to agriculture.  This talk will focus on P recovery, although many of the principle also apply for N.  An important take-home lesson is that traditional techniques for “P removal” will not work for P recovery.   P-recovery techniques that produce a product useful in agriculture include precipitation as struvite or hydroxyapatite and selective sorption to Fe-based sorbents.  This talk will introduce the new technologies and offer insights into their pros and cons.

Biography

Dr. Bruce E. Rittmann is Regents’ Professor of Environmental Engineering and Director of the Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology at Arizona State University.  His research focuses on the science and engineering needed to “manage microbial communities to provide services to society.”  Services include generating renewable energy, cleaning water and soil, and improving human health.  Dr. Rittmann is a member of the National Academy of Engineering; a Fellow of AAAS, WEF, IWA, and NAI; and a Distinguished Member of ASCE.  Dr. Rittmann was awarded the first Clarke Prize for Outstanding Achievements in Water Science and Technology from the NWRI, the Walter Huber Research Prize and the Simon Freese Award from ASCE, the G.M. Fair Award from AAEES, and the Perry L. McCarty/AEESP Founders Award.  He is the co-winner of the 2018 Stockholm Water Prize.  Dr. Rittmann has published over 790 journal articles, books, and book chapters, and he has 21 patents.  With Dr. Perry McCarty, Dr. Rittmann co-authored the textbook Environmental Biotechnology: Principles and Applications, 2^nd edition (McGraw-Hill Book Co.).