Odour eater

Cranfield University has recently been awarded £0.5 million to develop and bring to market six products that target the water and wastewater industries.

The funding package itself includes a £150,000 investment from NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), the organisation dedicated to supporting UK innovation, £150,000 from Oxford Technology 4 VCT, £53,000 from Cranfield Enterprises and £193,000 from business angels.

The products are being developed by Water Innovate Limited (WIL), part of the School of Water Sciences (SWS) at Cranfield University which is dedicated to bringing ideas from research outputs in the water and wastewater sectors to the market.

The most developed of the technologies is OdourSim - an odour modelling software package which can predict odours from sewage works and help produce more accurate odour contour maps, similar to weather charts.

Then there’s N-Tox - a nitrification toxicity monitor, which can provide warning of a failure at a wastewater treatment plant several hours prior to a failure, allowing for immediate remedial action. This is particularly vital in industrial effluents such as landfill leachate and pharmaceutical wastewaters where high levels of ammonia can be found, rendering failure of the plant more serious.

An advanced water/wastewater treatment chemical additive is also being developed to condition both water (i.e. drinking water) and wastewater (i.e. sewage). It has the added benefits of higher efficiency, lower operating costs and better operational performance than conventional additives.

The remaining three technologies are advanced or tertiary treatment technologies. A Membrane Chemical Reactor (MCR) combines ultra-violet light and titanium dioxide to remove pollutants from high “chemical oxygen demand” and coloured effluents, such as those produced by the dyeing industry.

While an Odour Extraction Membrane Reactor (OEMR), removes odour-causing molecules from air, and can control odour in the sewage, waste management and oil and gas sectors.

Finally, a Nitrification-Denitrification Reactor (NDR), is a technology to remove nitrogen from wastewater that avoids the need for chemical additives.

The six products will be taken to market by Water Innovate over the next 4 – 18 months, with each currently at a different stage of development.