SHSU Lab Develops New Wastewater Treatment Plant

By Stewart Smith
Huntsville Item Staff Reporter

Note: This is the first of a three-part series highlighting recent research and development breakthroughs by a Sam Houston State University-funded laboratory.

Flushing the toilet may be one of the most simple tasks completed every day.

It’s also one of the most expensive.

In 2004 the Environmental Protection Agency estimated the United States must invest nearly $400 billion to replace existing wastewater treatment systems and build new ones to meet increasing demands.

Texas alone has $9.15 billion in wastewater infrastructure needs, according to a recent report by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCA).

The ASCA reports that many of these wastewater treatment systems are either worn out or nearing the end of their design lives. Overflows of wastewater during snowmelts or heavy rainfall results in continual overflow problems and the discharge of raw sewage into United States surface waters.

The EPA estimated in 2004, about 850 billion gallons of combined sewer overflows are discharged every year.

However, researchers at the Texas Research Institute for Environmental Studies (TRIES) Lab at SHSU have developed a portable, reconfigurable wastewater treatment plant that is not only extremely efficient and adaptable but cheap to produce as well.

“This is without a doubt something that, to my knowledge, does not exist anywhere else in the world,” said Joshua Quinn, a designer/field technician with TRIES.

The system is known as the Deployable Aerobic Aqueous Bioreactor, or DAAB. It was developed after the U.S. Air Force commissioned the TRIES lab to create a mobile, energy efficient wastewater treatment system.

“With any luck, we hope to see this revolutionize the way the world treats municipal waste,” said Quinn.

Some environmental experts are eyeing a decentralized treatment system as a desirable option to solve many of the aforementioned wastewater problems. This would essentially entail having several smaller treatment facilities around a city, town or even a subdivision instead of one large-scale facility servicing an entire area.

Fulfilling the need

According to a report compiled by the Rocky Mountain Institute and presented to the EPA, decentralizing wastewater treatment has several benefits, including reducing wastewater system costs by downsizing the need for replacement systems. The systems can be scaled upward to meet increasing demands in areas of rapid growth.

The DAAB fits this bill to a T.

While not currently configured to handle large-scale growth, Quinn said the DAAB would be a perfect fit for providing temporary treatment in, say, a rapidly expanding area of Huntsville.

“Construction always moves quicker than infrastructure,” Quinn said. “So if you are having some rapid growth on the outskirts of town, you could move a few units in there for a temporary setup and have things up and running within a day.”

However, the uses of the DAAB reach well beyond urban development. Portions of West Texas are currently suffering drought and water shortages. The DAAB can aid in drought relief by keeping water circulating the affected areas.

While the treated water may not come out clean enough to drink (yet), Quinn says it is perfectly suitable to be returned to the environment and even used for irrigation purposes.

“You can keep the water localized instead of sending it 20 to 30 miles away to be treated,” Quinn said.

And given its portability and minimal energy requirements — if need be it could run off of either a gas-powered generator or a 120-volt power source similar to what is found in most households — the DAAB could even be used in Third World countries to treat wastewater that commonly gets mixed in with water sources from which people drink.

“I’ve been to places in Central and South America where people are pouring their wastewater literally only 50 feet from where kids are drinking water. So this could be a huge deal for areas like that,” Quinn said.

While no definite deals have been inked yet, Quinn said the Air Force is pleased with what has been produced so far.

“This started out as an insignificant project that no one ever really thought would be successful,” Quinn said. “Now they have expressed interest in purchasing commercial units for wider distribution.”

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SHSU Media Contact: Frank Krystyniak
Jan. 31, 2007
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