About

The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is calling for proposals for Evaluating Innovative and Sustainable Treatment Options for Biosolids.

This project is funded by The Water Research Foundation (WRF) as part of WRF’s Research Priority Program.

Project Objectives

• Identify and evaluate innovative and sustainable biosolids processing technologies (e.g., thermal, chemical, biological) including but not limited to technologies that can provide the destruction of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in biosolids. Technologies that can be integrated with circular economy approaches that yield beneficial co-products (syngas, biochar, etc.) are of particular interest, but not required.

• Tabulate information such as maturity/technology readiness level, life cycle cost, greenhouse gas emissions, and other relevant characteristics detailed below, to support utilities in assessing the application or adoption of these technologies.

Research Approach

A successful project will evaluate the landscape of innovative and sustainable technologies available for the treatment of any type of biosolids. This RFP is intentionally flexible in the research approach to encourage creativity and originality from proposers. Proposers should describe how they will conduct the research to meet the objectives listed above.

Funding Information

• Applicants may request up to $175,000 in WRF funds for this project.

• The anticipated period of performance for this project is 12 months from the contract start date.

Expected Deliverbales

A white paper that identifies and characterizes innovative thermal, chemical, and biological technologies with a proven ability to sustainably process biosolids. More specifically, the white paper is encouraged to include the following:

• A description of each technology, including the contaminants removed (e.g., the specific PFAS compounds, the sizes and types of microplastics), the mechanism of destruction, and the removal efficiencies

• The maturity of each technology/technology readiness level (e.g., laboratory, pilot, full-scale, years in operation)

• Capital and O&M costs, including return on investment (ROI)

• Life cycle analysis (LCA) including greenhouse gas emissions

• End product marketability

• Potential negative impacts or unintended consequences of the technology

• Use cases at active WRRFs

• A comparison of successful (i.e., implemented or adopted by utilities) technologies (e.g., a comparison table)

• Areas for additional research or technology development

Eligibility

Proposals will be accepted from domestic or international entities, including educational institutions, research organizations, governmental agencies, and consultants or other for-profit entities.

Post Date: 03-Oct-2022