Wastewater Treatment
Viable steps need to be taken to renew our increasingly scarce water resources. One option is to recover clean water and other valuable resources (energy, fertilizer, etc.) from wastewater. Waste treatment systems will become resource recovery centers, enabling: 1) low cost production of water that offsets demands for high quality water; 2) energy production that offsets fossil fuel demands; 3) nutrient recovery that offsets fertilizer demands; and 4) valuable mineral commodity recovery. Distributed, networked bioreactors will foster development of local markets for wastewater recovery, with low transport costs and the ability to match product quality and quantity to regional needs.
There is much value to be recovered from wastewater. While wastewater does contain salts and pathogens that must be removed, it is 99.9 percent water and contains valuable organics recoverable as energy and nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus which are also used as fertilizers. The challenge is to develop cost-effective means for recovery and purification of these valuable commodities.
Most wastewater treatment systems in the U.S. release treated water back into rivers, lakes or the ocean with little reuse. However, if more water was reused locally for non-potable applications, it would decrease the amount of expensive freshwater that needs to be imported. Improved recovery of energy at treatment plants could also offset costs of transporting and treating water.
NAEG Investco’s technology and investment focuses in this sub-sector are in the following:
At NAEG, we believe that whether it’s a new infrastructure, post-disaster reconstruction, urban development or a humanitarian development project, wastewater treatment technology applications are a general tool-box application that is always considered in the planning process.