Bioreactor cleans up toxic waste
15 Jan 2000
An innovative and environmentally friendly technology, the Extractive Membrane Bioreactor (EMB), has been invented at Imperial to deal with toxic wastes.
Organic wastes are biodegradable under carefully controlled conditions, but typical industrial wastes contain harsh inorganic components which can make conventional treatment impossible.
In the EMB system, a membrane separates wastewater from a biological phase containing microorganisms. The membrane is permeable to the toxic organic in the waste, which permeates into the biological medium and is consumed by the microbes. However, the membrane is not permeable to the inorganic compounds.
Imperial claims that the EMB offers `tremendous potential' to cut the cost of treating toxic waste streams. It has received much interest from the chemical industry.
A team of researchers from the department won a SMART award to set up a company, Membrane Extraction Technology (MET), to prove the technology on-site and to exploit it. ICI Polyurethanes provided a test site and support.
Currently MET has entered the second stage of its development programme, with pilot plants operating at ICI Hillhouse, Hickson and Welch (Castleford), and a third under construction for Elf Atochem in Widnes.
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