Transforming wastewater treatment plants into biorefineries

Wastewater is a rich vein of resource for producing clean water, renewable fuel, and fertilisers. This project aims to develop a technology platform based on forward osmosis (FO), membrane distillation (MD), and anaerobic digestion to enhance water recycling, harvest nutrients, and recover energy from wastewater. Key challenges associated with these systems will be addressed to provide fundamental understanding of membrane – solute/solid interactions, system integration and its environmental impacts. The outcomes will result in a patentable/commercialization ready prototype of the integrated FO-MD-anaerobic digestion system to transform wastewater treatment plants to biorefineries for resource recovery and directly benefit the society.