By Greentech Lead Team: American Water Works Company, the
largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company, announced it
has been awarded a grant from the WateReuse Research Foundation, an
educational, non-profit public benefit corporation, to conduct a joint research
project with Drexel University to measure and reduce biological fouling on
membrane filters in desalination applications.
“We are pleased that the WateReuse Research Foundation
has provided the opportunity to apply our recently developed rapid test for
measuring AOC in seawater,” said Lauren
Weinrich, senior research analyst for American Water’s Innovation and
Environmental Stewardship department,
Dr. Charles Haas, LD Betz professor of Environmental
Engineering and head of the Department of Civil, Architectural and
Environmental Engineering at Drexel University, will join the project as
principal investigator and American Water’s Dr.
Mark LeChevallier, director of Innovation and Environmental Stewardship, will
serve as co-principal investigator.
The project will monitor the biological fouling potential
using a recently developed tool for measuring readily biodegradable components
in seawater.
The desalination industry will benefit from improved
membrane operations by monitoring and controlling biodegradable matter in the
pretreatment process. RO membrane desalination industry is facing problems with
membrane fouling, which increases the operation, maintenance, and replacement
costs of the membrane filters. By reducing the rate of membrane replacement and
avoiding increased cleaning costs, desalination facilities will be able to
operate in a more sustainable manner.
The total value of the project is $248,170, with $98,452
funded by the WateReuse Research Foundation and $149,718 in-kind contribution
from the research partners. American Water will directly receive $35,000 to pay
for analytical costs, labor and other research costs.
Recently, American Water received another research
grant from
the WateReuse Research Foundation to develop best management practices to
control health risks and other issues associated with storage and distribution
of reclaimed water.