Singapore has awarded pump and water technologies company, Grundfos, a S$1.4 million (US$ 1.1 million) grant to develop a wastewater filtration technology which the company says can “significantly reduce” capital investment and operational costs for wastewater treatment.
Grundfos’ research and development project will focus on the industrial treatment of wastewater using a filter made from activated sludge. Besides funding research and development the grant will cover a pilot demonstration of the so called cake filter following successful proof of concept.
Activated sludge contains a suspension of bacteria used to clean wastewater by feeding impurities, in the water. The cake filter comprises activated sludge on a porous support which is treated to meet hydraulic specifications and to take out impurities. After use in removing secondary effluents from wastewater a backwash removes the used filter.
Grunfos said operating costs of its technology are less those for than ultrafiltration, because it uses less energy and requires less maintenance. “The cake filtration technology requires very little energy as it can operate under gravity,” Grundfos said.
The manufacturer said the effluent discharge from its filter cake is comparable in standard to that of membrane filtration, while halving the cost of effluent polishing. There is further potential to treat the filtrate and recycle it for irrigation or industrial uses Grundfos said. The R&D will enable the development of a number of wastewater treatment solutions according to Grundfos.
The grant came from the Singapore Environment and Water Industry Programme Office
(EWI) which is led by Singapore’s national water agency, PUB and other agencies. The grant comes under the National Research Foundation’s Incentive for Research and Innovation Scheme (IRIS). which provides provides research funding on competitive basis for research.
The Grundfos Water Innovation Centre in Singapore, headed by Dr Gao Xin, will be leading the project with support from the Nanyang Technological University’s Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute.
Regional managing director of grundfos Asia Pacific, Okay Barutçu, said: “Pumps of course play a vital role in the transportation and treatment of water today, but pumps also account for 10% of the
world’s electricity consumption. We are developing new technologies, which will not only
improve the responsible use of water, but at the same time, greatly optimise the cost and
energy consumption of recycling water. “