Water - Energy - Nutrient Nexus in the Cities of the Future

Completed

Not Energy Related
Energy Efficiency(Industry)

Basic and strategic applied research

BIOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES (Biological Sciences)
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Chemistry)
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES (Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences)

Not Cross-cutting
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Environmental dimensions)

Dr D Saroj
Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering
University of Surrey

Standard

EPSRC

15 May 2017

14 May 2019

24 months

£41,621

Environmental engineering

South East

Newton Programme

Dr D Saroj, Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Surrey

Dr LP Belo, UNLISTED, De La Salle University (DLSU), Philippines
Dr A Beltran, UNLISTED, De La Salle University (DLSU), Philippines
Professor ML Clarke, Geography, University of Nottingham
Dr R Eusebio, UNLISTED, De La Salle University (DLSU), Philippines
Professor GN Gilbert, Sociology, University of Surrey
Dr A Orbecido, UNLISTED, De La Salle University (DLSU), Philippines
Professor M Promentilla, UNLISTED, De La Salle University (DLSU), Philippines
Professor L F L Razon, UNLISTED, De La Salle University (DLSU), Philippines

Project Contact, Maynilad Water Services Inc., Philippines

With the rapid urbanization and growing population, some of the main issues in sustainable management of wastewater in cities include the protection of water resources, high energy demand in the operation of wastewater treatment facilities and direct disposal of treated effluent/by-products resulting in loss of opportunity to recover nutrients. Urban water and wastewater systems in particular are energy intensive starting from water abstraction to treatment and disposal. In large cities the management of wastewater is becoming quite important due to implications on the productivity of the aquatic environment, including critical water resources, and people's quality of life specially those who are disadvantaged in many countries.The cities of the future needs to be evolved with integrated planning of wastewater, energy and resource management. Recovery of resources from wastewater would not only supply nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) in the form of renewable fertilizer, but also it will reduce the energy demands in the production of fertilizers. Moreover, clean water can be produced which will further reduce pumping energy requirement for water supply in most cases. In particular, the use of recycled phosphorus in urban farming and agriculture in the cities of future would ensure the booming future populations can survive. In view of the booming population and associated nutritional requirements of future generations food production must increase significantly.This project (NexCities) will lay the groundwork for future research and knowledge application on systematic understanding of complex interrelations within a newly proposed concept of Water - Energy - Nutrient nexus, as a critical subset of broader Energy-Food-Water-Environment Nexus. A participatory stakeholder model based on fuzzy cognitive maps will be adopted to understand broader implication of Water - Energy - Nutrient nexus. This project aims beyond theoretical projections related to wastewater treatment and nutrient recycling, and particularly targets generation of new data by conducting systematic experimental investigation on quantities of nutrient and energy resources and their flows in Metro Manila wastewater.

28/03/19