City of Slater selects Gross-Wen Technologies' algae-based process for wastewater system
The following press release was originally posted on December 17, 2018 via Gross-Wen Technologies
AMES, IOWA – Residents in the Story County community of Slater will see their city wastewater treated by a process that uses algae to remove ammonia as well as other nutrients.
The Slater City Council last week selected Ames-based Gross-Wen Technologies (GWT) to install its cutting-edge technology at the community’s wastewater treatment facility. The Council approved an upgrade estimated to cost $4 million which, when completed, will allow the city to meet state clean-water permit standards.
Slater is the first community in the state to select the GWT system, which uses algae to treat wastewater. The technology, developed at Iowa State University, is known as a Revolving Algal Biofilm (RAB) treatment system. It has proven to be effective at removing nitrogen, phosphorus and other pollutants from municipal wastewater.
Slater mayor John Kahler says the Council opted for the RAB system for several reasons.
"It was a greener alternative to treating phosphates, nitrates and ammonia with the possibility of generating an income off of the algae harvest," Kahler said. “In addition, the RAB system is less expensive to install, maintain and operate.”
Kahler also points to the fact that the Gross-Wen system was a bargain when compared to the $6 million alternative the city was considering.
GWT President Dr. Martin Gross says the company is excited to get its first, municipal contract to install the RAB.
“Slater is a community that is willing to take innovative steps to care for their citizens, and the environment,” Gross said. “By installing our system, they are selecting the most environmentally friendly treatment option. And that ‘green’ option also saves the community approximately $2 million.”
GWT will begin working with Slater’s design engineering consultants to design the system and move toward installation. That process should be complete by mid-2020.
Gross says he hopes other rural communities see the benefits that Slater did of a more cost-effective system that addresses water quality issues raised by nitrogen and phosphorus.
Gross adds that current state water-quality standards only require small cities to meet ammonia discharge permits and the conventional technologies achieve this is by converting ammonia to nitrate. This means the current technologies being deployed do not remove nitrogen or phosphorus and have the potential to increase the nitrate levels leaving the treatment plant.
“Over the past three years we have been working hard to collect data to prove that our treatment system is an effective and reliable process to help communities large and small recover nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater,” Gross said.
About Gross-Wen Technologies, Inc.: Gross-Wen Technologies is an Iowa-based company working to solve one of the world’s largest problems, water quality. The company was founded in 2014 by Dr. Martin Gross and Dr. Zhiyou Wen, and is based on a technology they developed at Iowa State University. The algae system is capable of cost effectively recovering nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater. For more information on GWT, visit Algae.com
