District Energy - 2012 1st Quarter

ability have encouraged facility managers to consider on-site recycling of wastewater or gray water.” The intrinsic link between water and energy production is what interests DOE in water reclamation. Often overlooked is the fact that it takes large volumes of water to create energy, and it takes a significant amount of energy to treat and provide clean water.

According to the River Network, “Water-related energy use represents over 13 percent of our national electrical production, while electrical generation now uses 53 percent of our nation’s fresh surface water resources.” What concerns the DOE is whether water supplies will be sufficient to meet U.S. energy demands in 20 years and how the embodied energy associated with water can be improved. Research shows that decentralized water reuse will improve our water and energy footprints at the same time.

A New Approach

Organica-Sustainable Water’s answer to on-site water reuse is called the BlueHouse, designed for commercial, industrial and institutional settings. This technology treats water through a natural process – producing reclaimed quality water suitable for boilers, cooling towers, industrial processes, irrigation and even

toilet flushing. It features a lush greenhouse facility that combines traditional wastewater engineering methods with advanced ecological principles to form a highly robust treatment system.

The greenhouse facility utilizes a unique biological treatment method (fig. 1) involving a series of interconnected, sequentially operated, cascading reactors. Water is circulated through both aerobic and anaerobic chambers in which suspended plant roots serve as a natural habitat for microorganisms that form a unique ecosystem specially engineered to break down waste. In addition to its sustainable design, this patented process is engineered to be 15 percent to 30 percent more efficient than conventional technologies. These efficiencies include lower energy requirements and less sludge production, at a greatly reduced footprint.

The BlueHouse can be as small as 1,500 sq ft and treat as much as 90,000 gal per day. Custom designs are capable of treating up to 50 million gal per day, making the technology highly scalable. What really sets these greenhouse facilities apart is their ability to be incorporated into nearly any environment – urban or rural. Small, odorless and aesthetically pleasing, they are completely changing the look and feel of water treatment.

On-Site Water Reclamation
in China

Until recently, the U.S. has had relatively little broad-based exposure to water crises. However, we have the opportunity to learn from places like China where water scarcity has impacted health, quality of life and economic growth. With cities like Shenzhen witnessing enormous population growth (as much as 20 million people in 30 years), water supply is becoming a critical issue. More than half of Chinese cities suffer from water shortages. Fearing stagnant economic development, the Chinese government started coordinating new policies for developing wastewater infrastructure projects throughout the country.

As a result of rapid urbanization straining water supply in Shenzhen, Foxconn Electronics was forced by the central government to address its sanitary issues without placing any further strain on existing water infrastructure. Foxconn, one of the largest electronics manufacturers in the world and the largest private employer in China, is a water- and energy-intensive manufacturing facility. To reduce its impact on the environment, Foxconn searched for a technology that was both economically and environmentally sustainable.

Figure 1. The BlueHouse Biological Treatment Method. A 1,500-sq-ft facility can treat as much as 90,000 gal per day by circulating water through anoxic, aerobic and anaerobic chambers. Suspended plant roots serve as a natural habitat for microorganisms that form a unique ecosystem designed to break down waste.