Novel approach to production of high-value biochemicals and simultaneous removal of organic and other contaminants from waste streams using High-Rate Biomass Bioreactors

主要由化石燃料的人为活动引起的能源资源枯竭、全球能源需求增加以及全球气候变化可能不利于经济发展，特别是在北美等能源消耗高的地区。长期以来，废水一直被认为是人类健康问题和环境危害，因此，处理后产生的废水具有令人满意的质量，可以排放到环境中。目前正在进行一种范式转变，从将废水处理为废物，转变为积极主动的能源和物质资源，以促进水资源回收设施(WRRF)的发展。拟议研究计划的总体目标是开发经济、稳健和高效的工艺来生产生物能源和从废水中回收化学资源，并将高强度的有机城市废物转化为可回收水和不同附加值产品的WRRF设施。研究计划将重点放在开发的技术和下一批增值产品的调试上，主要集中在废水中的高风险化合物，以及研究这些生物技术，以去除最近在废水中发现的污染物。这将涉及四个研究主题：1)探索对传统活性污泥法的改造，并将其转变为A级工艺，包括高速活性污泥法(A-HRAS)、高速接触稳定化(HICs)和交替活性吸附(AAA)；2)开发一个从废液中回收生物甲醇、胞外聚合物(EPS)和生物聚合物(PHB和PHAs)的序贯生化工艺；3)开发一种新的方法来集成改良的活性污泥法和序贯生化工艺；以及4)开发一个高层模型来集成WRRFs工艺和实际城市污水中的新系统。为了未来的可持续性，加拿大需要使用一种基于可再生材料的工艺来生产更多的能源和化学品，这种工艺利用了最新的技术进步。此外，加拿大需要培训能够开发和操作这些过程的高素质研究人员/工程师。对于安大略省来说，从环境和社会的角度强烈建议创造和利用废水作为资源，并将其回收为有价值的资源替代品。因此，未来的一个重要部分将依赖于使用创新的生物技术来生产/回收能源、资源和增值产品。这些生物技术的新颖性不仅在于它融合了100%由加拿大研究人员和专业工程师开发的创新技术，而且每一项技术都提出了解决实际问题的新方法，并推进了最先进的技术。

Depleted energy resources, increasing worldwide energy demand, and global climate change, mainly caused by anthropogenic activities of fossil fuels can be detrimental to economic development, particularly in areas of high-energy consumption such as North America. For a long time, wastewater has been considered a human health concern and an environmental hazard and therefore, treated to produce an effluent with satisfactory quality for discharge to the environment. A paradigm shift from considering wastewater streams as waste to being treated as a proactive energy and material resource is currently underway to contribute to the development of water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs). The overall objective of the proposed research program is to develop economical, robust, and efficient processes to produce bioenergy and recover chemical resources from wastewater and turn the high strength organic municipal waste streams into WRRFs facilities from which water along with different value-added products can be recovered. The research program will be focusing on the commissioning of the developed technologies and the next group of value-added products with a main focus on the high-risk compound in the wastewater and study of these biotechnologies to remove pollutants that recently discovered their presence in the wastewater. This will be done across four research themes: 1) Explore the modification of conventional activated sludge process and convert it into an A-stage process of high rate activated sludge (A-HRAS), high-rate contact stabilization (HiCS), and Alternating Activated Adsorption (AAA), 2) Develop a sequential biochemical process to recover biomethanol, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), and Biopolymer (PHB and PHAs) from waste streams, 3) Develop a novel approach to integrate the Modified activated sludge system with the sequential biochemical process, and 4) Develop a high-level model to integrate the new systems within the WRRFs process and real municipal waste streams. For future sustainability, Canada needs to produce more of its energy and chemicals using a process based on renewable materials that utilize the latest advances in technology. Furthermore, Canada needs to train highly qualified researchers/engineers that can develop and operate these processes. For Ontario, creating and using wastewater as recourses and recovery into valuable resources substitute is strongly recommended from environmental and societal perspectives. Hence, an essential part of that future will rely on using innovative biotechnology to produce/recover energy, resources, and value-added products. The novelty of these biotechnologies not only lies in its integration of innovative technologies that are being developed by 100% Canadian researchers and professional engineers, but also every technology presents a novel approach to resolve a practical problem, and advances the state-of-the-art.