Bactest CYTOMAIA respirometer technology for optimisation of wastewater processes

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The business opportunity this project (Shepherd) addresses is to bring to market the first insitu,real time activated sludge monitoring system, that would enable the waste water industryto dramatically cut their energy consumption and carbon footprint.Fundamental to the process of dealing with wastewater is the generation of a stable populationof microorganisms in the process plant for the purification of raw sewage and commercialwaste. The process is continuous and kept in balance by adjusting flow rates of effluent andby maintaining the correct oxygen content to allow efficient microbial growth andpurification. Air is forced into the "activated sludge" by large compressors to maintain thegaseous composition. Key causes of poorly performing plants are inadequate plant operationcontrol and testing. Increasingly, biological monitoring is seen as the solution to optimisingprocesses and is a significant driver within the industry. Currently there are no microbialmonitoring systems suitable for real time process control. The industry spends up to 50% ofits energy OPEX on ad-hoc aeration of activated sludge with the aim to optimise bacterialactivity in waste water treatment plants. Currently the standard test is BOD5 which takes 5 to7 days for results to come back to the plant by which time the “situation” has dramaticallychanged. Thus the test can be useless. The industry has been seeking a solution to thisproblem for years. An on-line, reliable, real time BOD analysis device (or analogue) wouldtransform control and lead to enhanced discharge standards and lower, optimised, energyconsumption throughout the industry.In order to address this business opportunity BACTEST will need to modify its current proventechnology platform CYTOMAIA that was designed to be used in a portable contaminationtesting instrument (Speedy Breedy) such that the technology could be used in a larger devicethat would permanently reside on a waste water plant sampling activated sludge, testing andtransmitting results to a monitoring centre. This would enable plant operators to have resultson the “health” of bacterial activity every hour (as opposed to every 7 days) enabling them tomake more efficient use of aeration resulting is lower energy spend. In addition the datagenerated by Shepherd will also be transmitted to BACTEST where a database will be grownand software tools built to analyse waste water facilities to assist in management and planningof waste water facilities.Project outcomes from this TSB project will prove that our technology platform can bemodified as outlined above and will culminate in 2 prototypes being deployed on test wastewater facilities, one at Anglian Water in Cambridge, the other at Cranfield University.Industry experts used to trouble shooting problem plants suggest savings of 20% should be atarget for well controlled processes.We anticipate proof of concept will cost around £168,000 and take 12 months.