I-Corps: Integrated Wastewater Treatment and Bioenergy Production

目前的废水处理方法消耗大量昂贵的能源，并且在处理过程中回收能源的努力有严重的局限性。因此，人们需要一种能够同时去除污染物和产生生物能源的综合系统。提出的技术有潜力通过利用两种生物方法来满足这一需求：1)微生物燃料电池（MFCs）氧化有机化合物以产生生物电；2)藻类生物反应器去除营养物（氮和磷）以生产可进一步转化为生物柴油的生物质。该项目是基于在实验室中提出的系统的成功概念验证。该团队将通过商业和工程开发评估该技术的商业可行性。该项目的成功完成将有助于更好地了解确定拟议技术的技术和商业可行性所需的关键因素，并有助于进一步吸引战略工业伙伴。拟议的技术具有经济效益，包括减少能源消耗和对化石燃料（煤）的依赖，以及社会效益，包括减少能源生产产生的温室气体排放和改善水质。这项技术的潜在客户，如国有水处理厂、工程咨询公司和环境设备公司，将帮助将拟议的系统推向市场，并将从系统设计和建造（咨询和设备）的新商机中获利，并减少运营费用。

Current wastewater treatment methods consume significant amounts of costly energy, and the efforts to recover energy during treatment have severe limitations. As a result, there is a demand for an integrated system that can simultaneously remove contaminants and produce bioenergy. The proposed technology has the potential to meet this demand by taking advantage of two biological methods: 1) Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) oxidization of organic compounds to generate bioelectricity; and 2) algal bioreactors removing nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) to produce biomass that can be further converted to biodiesel. The project is based on a successful proof-of-concept of the proposed system in the laboratory. The team will assess the commercial viability of the technology through business and engineering development. Successful completion of the project will result in better understanding of key factors needed to determine the technical and commercial feasibility of the proposed technology, and help to further engage strategic industrial partners.The proposed technology has economic benefits, including decreased energy consumption and reliance on fossil fuels (coal), and societal benefits including decreased greenhouse gas emissions from energy production and improved water quality. Potential customers for this technology such as publicly-owned water treatment plants, engineering consulting firms, and environmental equipment companies, will help bring the proposed system to market, and will profit from new business opportunities in system design and construction (consulting and equipment), and in reduced operating expenses.