High Metabolic Rate (HMrate) for Biological wastewater and sludge treatment processes using new BioStreme

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The research and development that will be carried out in this project is to resolve an important problem with biological wastewater and sludge treatment processes related to the metabolic and biological reaction rates for wastewater and sludge treatment processes. Biological processes have gained great popularity in wastewater and sludge treatment for their effective applications and costeffective means to reduce organic and nutrient content of liquid waste streams from municipal and industrial sources, prior to their final discharge to the environment. The working principle of the biological treatments is based on the metabolic rate of different microorganisms at different environmental configurations. The rate of decomposition depends on microbial activities. Slow degradation could be associated with the microorganisms inability to degrade, to low solubility of the contaminant, and to specific micronutrient limitation. However, there are many municipal and industrial wastewater treatment processes that discharge synthetic compounds unfamiliar to microbial cells. The availability of certain micronutrient is conventionally limited but also essential to maximize the biological processes. The xenobiotic nature of these waste streams frontiers the biological treatment process. In order to maximum the efficiency of the microorganism, the micronutrients should be easily accessible to the biological community and metabolic rates of functional bacteria strains will increase accordingly. To enhance the biological wastewater and sludge treatment processes, this project will be focusing on developing new micronutrient supplement products (BioStreme X) and their implementation into the design of biological wastewater and sludge treatment processes. We intend to optimize the available resources and use a flexible approach in designing micronutrient formulae to enhance the biodegradability of waste streams at four different biological processes: nitrification, denitrification, enhanced phosphorus removal, and anaerobic digestion. The new BioStreme X supplement products offer a balanced and easily accessible micronutrient package that leads to a highly bioavailable biochemical for microbes naturally present in waste streams. Increased treatment efficiency with the addition of a new BioStreme X supplement product offers one more alternative in wastewater and sludge treatment processes, especially for facilities struggling at the maximum design loading rate, or need a short way to cut operation cost. This project will lead to the development of a High Metabolic Rate (HMrate) biological process necessary to achieve the desired treatment objective. This technique is accurate and sensitive because the micronutrient formals will be design based on the nature of the biological process. It is also a toxic-free product as it is made completely of plant and animal material. By employing these principles, we, in collaboration with the company ECOLO Odor Control Technology Inc., will conduct fundamental feasibility studies and develop new BioStreme X supplement products that will be tested on lab-scale and full-scale municipal and industrial wastewater and sludge treatment plants. The new BioStreme X supplement products are anticipated to significantly improve the metabolic rate of biological processes and reduce the biomass retention time especially in long solids retention time (SRT). Our proposed products also aim to resolve a critical problem common to existing biological treatment plants concerning greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Reductions in GHG and enhancing biological nutrient removal in wastewater and sludge treatment processes is anticipated to greatly aid ECOLOs expansion into new treatment plant markets. Through collaboration and dedication by the company, full commercialization of the new product using HMrate biological treatment process is expected to happen in the next 2-3 years. The company anticipates annual revenues of $2M within 5 years and would generate up to 10 new jobs in Ontario.