This document discusses how technology can help municipalities overcome challenges like aging infrastructure and population growth while becoming more energy efficient and achieving energy neutrality in wastewater treatment. It outlines several key technologies from GE that support this, such as membrane aerated biofilm reactors (MABRs), anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs), and advanced anaerobic digestion technologies that increase biogas production. These innovations can help both municipalities and industry reduce energy usage and costs while treating wastewater in a more sustainable way.

1. Imagination at work
Technology is driving
energy neutrality in
wastewater treatment
Top 5 Questions to the CTO
Tom Stanley, Chief Technology Officer
GE Water & Process Technologies

2. What are the biggest challenges facing
municipalities and how can technology help
remove barriers to success?
Question 1:

3. “Increasing demand is pushing
municipal systems to their limits;
our infrastructure is aging, yet
expected to meet more arduous
discharge requirements.
Our local governments are
strapped for cash, but need to
provide their citizens with safe
and reliable services. So what’s
the answer? I believe it is
technology.
The advances in water and
wastewater treatment technology
over the last few years are
remarkable. Appropriate and cost
effective enhancements can be
made to existing infrastructure
that provide impressive results.”
Challenges:
• Population increase = growing
capacity demands
• Increasing capacity = increased
energy demand to treat wastewater
• New and more stringent discharge
regulations
Technology can:
• Reduce energy consumption with
better primary treatment and
biological processes
• Increase energy production with
anaerobic digestion and energy
recovery
• Provide low capital expenditure
(CAPEX) and operational
expenditure (OPEX) expansion of
existing WWTP capacity
3
TECHNOLOGY REMOVING BARRIERS TO SUCCESS

4. As energy demand continues to grow globally,
what role will technology (and technology
providers) play in creating a more sustainable
energy environment?
Question 2:

5. “Replicating past solutions simply
won’t work. Technology providers
need to push the envelope and offer
more energy efficient solutions that
are innovative and robust.
Operational flexibility is crucial, as is
the ability to harness the power of
the Industrial Internet. Machines
need to interact with one another
and work proactively to supply
operators with the information they
need to make smarter decisions.
It’s all about the ability to predict
what could happen and what is
possible, then having the flexibility to
alter operations to achieve specific
and individual results.”
New technology must:
• Address the needs of new plants
and retrofit to existing footprints
• Offer flexibility to accommodate
varying needs and changing
requirements
• Be equipped to interact with other
assets
Smart machines can:
• Interact and communicate with one
another to ensure optimal
performance
• Predict future issues and alert
operators before said issues occur
• Suggest appropriate actions to
avoid unscheduled downtime
5
CREATING A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ENVIRONMENT

6. Why is energy neutrality the new aspiration
and how is technology supporting its
acceleration in the municipal space?
Question 3:

7. “As populations increase, so too
does the demand for electricity at
wastewater treatment plants.
Conventional plants consume a
tremendous amount of energy; in
fact, wastewater treatment in the US
accounts for 3% of the national
electrical load.
We must focus on transforming our
treatment plants from energy users
to empowered energy producers.
The technology exists for both new
and existing facilities, but change is
never easy. Technology needs to
usher in new trends and facilities
need to embrace the innovative and
disruptive solutions that make
energy neutrality possible. ”
It’s time to make a change:
• Community drinking water and
publicly owned wastewater systems
in the U.S. use 75 billion kWh of
energy per year – that’s enough
electricity to power 6.75 million
homes (EPA, 2009)
• The energy content of municipal
sewage is 2-4 times greater than
the energy required to treat it
(WERF, 2011)
Resource recovery requires:
• The extraction of energy content in
wastewater organics
• Combustion, oxidation, or
compression to convert extracted
energy into a useable form
Title or Job Number | XX
7
ADOPTION OF ENERGY NEUTRALITY

8. What technology innovation is GE’s water and process
business bringing to market that will help facilities achieve
energy efficiency and potentially put them on the path
towards energy neutrality?
Question 4:

9. “The path to energy neutrality is
paved with a handful of GE
technologies. For example, GE’s
new ZeeLung* membrane aerated
biofilm reactor (MABR) offers simple,
low-energy nutrient removal in a
small footprint. It is an ideal solution
for existing CAS plants in need of
upgraded capacity or expansion,
and provides four times greater
energy efficiency than bubble
aeration.
For complete energy neutrality, the
key is to capture and divert a high
percentage of organics to an
anaerobic digester where biomass is
converted to biogas. GE’s advanced
digestion technology provides a 20%
to 30% higher biogas yield than
conventional anaerobic digestion.”
LEAPprimary*:
• Combines separation, thickening, and
dewatering of primary solids in a single
compact unit.
• Saves 25% in energy costs on primary
treatment for MBR
ZeeLung:
• Employs a gas transfer membrane to
deliver oxygen to a biofilm that is
attached to the surface of the membrane
• 4X greater energy efficiency vs.
conventional bubble aeration
Advanced anaerobic digestion (AAD):
• Increases the conversion of sludge into
biogas while minimizing the tank volume
compared to conventional digestion.
• 20-30% higher biogas yield than
conventional anaerobic digestion
9
ENERGY AS A CORE DRIVER

10. Is energy neutrality something that is limited
to municipalities or can industry reap the
benefits as well?
Question 5:

11. “Scale is key to supporting the
economics of an energy neutral
facility, but many industrial facilities
are not scaleable. That said, there
are a lot of great opportunities when
it comes to increasing the energy
efficiency of industrial wastewater
treatment. The appropriate
technology depends on the amount
of organic content.
For example, GE’s anaerobic
membrane bioreactor (AnMBR)
technology is a great solution for
facilities with high organic content.
AnMBR integrates membrane quality
filtration to improve reliability and
robustness of anaerobic treatment
outside of the municipal space.”
AnMBR offers:
• A low-cost, high-performance
combination of anaerobic digestion
technology and ZeeWeed* 500
membranes
• An anaerobic digestion process in
which microorganisms break down
biodegradable material in the
absence of oxygen
• GE’s patented ZeeWeed
reinforced hollow fiber membranes
to address the issues associated
with traditional anaerobic
processes
• An overall outcome that separates
solids retention time (SRT) from
hydraulic retention time (HRT) for a
more robust biological process
11
GE’S TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION SPURS THE INDUSTRY

12. * Trademark of General Electric Company; may be registered in one or more countries.
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