Serendipitous bug discovery could slash drinking water energy usage By Stuart Nathan 22nd March 2017 11:56 am A chance discovery made by researchers at the University of Glasgow could dramatically reduce the cost of treating water for drinking World water day aims to highlight the importance of conserving drinking water The team, led by Ameet Pinto, is working on an EPSRC-funded project in collaboration with the University of Michigan. Analysing bacteria found in drinking water system in the US, they detected a previously-unknown strain that is capable of transforming ammonia into nitrates in a single step. In existing water treatment systems, ammonia removal is a two-stage process involving two different strains of bacteria. First, the ammonia is converted to nitrites, and then in the second step these are oxidised to nitrates that can then be converted into nitrogen gas and evaporated safely from the water. One drawback of this is that the process requires large amounts of electricity. According to the EPSRC, two to three per cent of all electricity usage in Europe and the US is used for wastewater treatment, and some 30 per cent of this can be attributed to ammonia removal processes. The newly discovered bacterial strain has been given the name commammox (complete ammonia oxidising) bacteria. Other research groups have now also detected it in wastewater plants, groundwater and aquaculture systems. “This discovery took us completely by surprise,” Pinto said in a statement issued by the EPSRC to coincide with World Water Day . “The discovery of a single microorganism capable of full nitrification will have a significant impact on our understanding of the nitrogen cycle and on efforts to manage nitrogen pollution. The potential is there for the wastewater treatment sector to exploit this breakthrough, which other teams in Europe have made in parallel with us. That would be an important step towards informing the development of robust approaches in terms of cutting costs and reducing carbon emissions associated with generating the huge amounts of electricity that the sector uses.” Pinto’s project, lasting two years, is receiving around ￡250,000 from the EPSRC. It has two goals: firstly, to develop an “engineered assembly” of naturally-occurring microbes that can kill pathogens at the water treatment plant and continue to work as a protective barrier when the water is pumped into the supply system, thereby removing the need for chemical disinfection. Second, it aims to identify microorganisms that could be added to that would be actively beneficial water supply to human health, thereby changing the existing paradigm of supplying “safe” drinking water to that of supplying “healthy” water. Currently, chemical free water treatment has used ultraviolet light to disinfect water at the treatment plant, but this also uses large amounts of energy. A particular target for the second part of the project is to find microorganisms that are beneficial to people with autoimmune disorders, which cost the National Health Service an estimated ￡1.5bn per year to treat. The findings of the Healthy Drinking Water project are scheduled to be published later this year. end
此博文的主要目的： 通过 Griffith University and Peking University - Collaborat e Research Scheme 寻求与北京大学的合作。 合作的项目会在Wastewater treatment方面， 请编辑和各位专家将此文推荐到首页， 谢谢！！ 我将在下面做详细介绍：（该合作是基于 Griffith University and Peking University - Collaborat e Research Scheme计划的基础上， 希望能引起站内北京大学的学者或是与北京大学有联系的各位专家的注意 ） 首先 对 Griffith University and Peking University - Collaborat e Research Scheme 项目的简介： Griffith University and Peking University Collaborative Research Scheme Under the banner of the 'Asian Century Futures Initiative', Griffith University and Peking University have established a Griffith-Peking University Collaborative Research Scheme to facilitate reciprocal research exchanges and joint funding proposals for the purpose of developing collaborative research. Research projects that receive support under the scheme will be expected to produce joint publications in high quality research outlets and joint grant applications to external funding bodies Scheme contact: Nicky Sainsbury Next call for applications: NOW OPEN Closing date of scheme: COB Friday 4 April 2014 Application form Guidelines 详细的内容 请参考： Guidelines and forms are available from: http://www.griffith.edu.au/research/research-services/research-grants/funding-opportunities/internal-grants 第二， 对合作项目的简介： 目前Griffith university Smart water reaserch centre 正在研究一个关于wastewater treatment 方面的课题，由州政府和联邦政府资助的项目， 经费4百万澳币。 该课题目前已经进行1年半左右。 课题的详细内容我会稍后整理成一份中文信息。 希望有意共同申请这份计划的专家 学者们 与我联系： 李淼 email： m.li@griffith.edu.au. 或者请各位 专家 学者 推荐联系。 谢谢
“嫦娥三号”完美登月，“嫦娥”与“玉兔”成功互拍，并将清晰的照片传送回来，应该说这次登月飞行已取得圆满成功！我们在庆祝我国的航天科技又取得巨大进步的同时，也必须清醒地认识到，美国，前苏联差不多在 40 多年前，就取得了类似的成就。虽然我们在这次登月形动中，充分吸取了他们的经验教训，使整个计划更完美，几乎做到了万元一失。 改革开放三十多年来，我国的经济得到了突飞猛进地发展，取得的巨大成就得到世界公认。从大城市的高楼大厦，到遍布全国的高速铁路网与高速公路网，我们与西方的差距正在快速拉近。在新建的繁华街区，似乎比欧美更发达。国内的一些“土豪”，到了欧美挥金如土，从数百万或上千万美金的豪宅，到各种奢侈品的采购，都给全世界造成了我国已迈入了“发达国家”的假象。但在细微处，从全民的素质，到各级机构的管理水平，以及一些硬件的配置要求，我们与西方发达国家的差距仍是巨大的。只有认识到这些差距，头脑清醒地不断改进自己的工作，才能不断地缩短这些差距。 1997 年我第一次去美国，美国的朋友带我到深山中钓鱼，虽然我在美国当年只可能钓一次鱼，但仍给我办理了钓鱼的执照。到了山间的一个野营停车场，看不到有人管理，但停车场有水，有电。我好奇地问：这些水，电的费用如何结算，回复是水电费全免。当时我就感觉到我国与美国的一些公共设施的差距，远不是十年，二十年的距离。 最近我参加了韩国三星电子公司在东莞的一家合资企业新建项目的评审，看到公司仍采用离子交换树脂做高纯水。离子交换树脂是一种相对比较传统的做高纯度脱离子水的方法。但用离子交换树脂，由于树脂的交换容量有限，就必须经常使用酸与碱溶液进行再生，在再生过程中产生大量的酸性与碱性废水，浪费的水量比较多，有时，还产生废酸与废碱，腐蚀下水管道，污染环境。二十多年前，美国一家公司开发了一项新技术—填充床电渗析（ EDI ），它是用电进行再生的脱离子水系统，使用这项技术，生产脱离子的高纯水时，就不需要再用酸与碱溶液进行再生了，也不可能再产生酸性与碱性废水。它的优点是一目了然的，它的缺点就是价格昂贵。 十多年前，我还是广州宝洁公司的顾问工程师，公司的内部工艺指引已要求更换公司内的所有生产去离子水的离子交换树脂处理系统，将其更换为 EDI ，并要求各生产部门，在下一个年度财政预算中安排出更换的预算。韩国三星公司差不多是韩国最大的企业，也是韩国高新技术开发的领头羊。在东莞的液晶屏生产工厂，建设很规范，从工厂的厂容卫生等方面评估，管理也是比较到位的。作为评审专家，也要提出一些能提升公司的技术水平，减少水耗能耗的一些有益措施与方法。我就问他们，为什么还用经常需要酸与碱溶液再生的离子交换树脂，而不用污染更少，使用更方便的 EDI 系统。公司的技术人员回答，他们今年已做了计划，明年更换目前正在使用的去离子水交换树脂系统，改用更新更可靠的 EDI 。这个事例说明，虽然韩国三星公司的研发能力已直逼美国的一流公司苹果公司，但作为韩国的一流企业，与欧美的一流企业相比，在生产系统的一些基本技术要求上，仍存在差不多十五年的时间差！ 我国的企业呢？可能不少企业的工程技术人员都没有听说过 EDI ，我们的企业与韩国的企业又存在一个时间差。虽然我国已有个别企业引进或模仿国外的技术生产 EDI 系统，但要大规模地在国内推广应用，仍需要一段时间。 我们的 SCI 论文发表数量已达世界第二，经济总量也是世界第二，但要想到我国是人口差不多占世界人口五分之一的大国，就平均而言，人均数量还是很低的。只有正视差距，才有前进的动力！在生产技术上是这种状况，在基础研究领域，何尝不是如此呢？我想目前还不是我们争论明年或后年得诺贝尔奖的时候，我们还要埋头苦干，默默积累，静静等待那量变到质变的转化。
标签: 水处理
