Cross-cutting Methodologies
Area Lead: Mr Thabiso Zikalala
Year
Title
Lead organisation
Brief Description
2022 – 2024
Umgeni Water
This project aims to develop a wastewater costing model (from fundamental treatment principles) which can be used as a decision making tool for wastewater management. The model will take into account plant location, plant size, treatment technology and actual costs. It will further assist with easy estimation of wastewater treatment costs per volume without going through design. The ultimate outputs will be a guide to wastewater costing and a costing model which will be presented to various stakeholders and be used for decision making.
2022 – 2023
UKZN Electrical Electronics and Computer Engineering
The project aims to develop a practical remote water monitoring and reporting product. The system would collect data from sensors (temperature, ph., conductivity, chemical sensors etc.) deployed in a water body (including rugged environments) and wirelessly transmit sensed data to the control room where it is managed by the developed software application. The developed system will help to monitor, provide alerts, real time data, data analysis and reporting in water pollution, waste water management, coastal marine water management, water fingerprinting and other diverse areas including water COVID epidemiology surveillance systems.
2021 – 2023
WASH R&D Centre
The Process Engineering Services (PES) section of eThekwini Water and Sanitation (EWS) has recently established a process modelling group with support from UKZN with the ambitious long term aim of developing an integrated model of the metro’s entire wastewater system, eventually including sewers, treatment works and rivers. It is intended to be a decision support system for the municipality to plan and manage all aspects related to wastewater.
2019 – 2025
Technical University of Denmark
Fundamentally, the project will deliver a new generation of engineering tools to simulate resource recovery options in selected South African plants and to evaluate these novel technologies in line with the objectives of the sustainability and circular economy paradigm.
2017 – 2023
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
Laboratory and technical support to grantees undertaking engineering field testing of sanitation protoypes.
2016 – 2017
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The study revolves around conducting a series of LCAs on various proposed water treatment plants using alternative water sources (sea water and wastewater). Such a study will aim to compare the overall environmental burden associated with various water treatment technologies. In order to achieve this objective, design and operational data are required to analyse processes in the production of both potable and industrial water.
2013 – 2016
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG), in collaboration with the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Cape Town, developed a model for simulating wastewater treatment processes in order to support the national Green Drop programme in its efforts to improve the standard of wastewater treatment in South Africa. The conventional way of assessing process-performance employs a combination of general discharge standards and historical records for the particular plant, according to a ‘continuous improvement’ principle. The use of modelling offered the possibility of supplementing this relativistic approach by providing performance criteria that have an absolute basis.
2013 – 2015
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The WRC commissioned the WASH R&D Centre to develop a theoretical model to describe the partitioning of micro-nutrients between soluble, precipitate and potentially bound and adsorbed phases, which can be used to determine the amount of the micro-nutrient available for anaerobic digestion and therefore can be used to predict the microbial response to different micronutrient dosing strategies.
2013 – 2015
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
In April 2013, WRC commissioned the WASH R&D Centre to update the Guidelines for the Soft Drink Industry. The aim of this project is to undertake a survey of the South African Soft Drink industry in order to obtain an overview of operations, specific water use, specific effluent volume and the extent to which best practice is being implemented. This evaluation is to be achieved through a review of the literature, the facilitation of workshops for stakeholders within the sector, interviews with environmental managers of key soft drink companies in South Africa, and site visits.
2013 – 2014
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The WASH R&D Centre was commissioned by Illovo Sugar to conduct research on the operation of a thermophyllic Membrane Bio Reactor (MBR) plant and to determine whether heating or cooling should be applied to the MBR to overcome instability often experienced. This project aimed to answer research questions through literature reviews and lab experimentation.
2012 – 2014
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
This project derives from a special task-force put together by the International Water Association (IWA) for developing a physicochemical framework for modelling water and wastewater processes. The overall objective of this project is to develop learning and training materials on aquatic chemistry and physicochemical aquatic and bio-process wastewater treatment models.
2010 – 2015
PAMSA
Since 2010, PAMSA has supported the bursaries for master’s student research at the University of Stellenbosch, University of Witswatersrand, University of Pretoria, and University of KwaZulu-Natal. The projects cover a range of topics related to the pulp and paper industry.
2010 – 2014
EAWAG
The VUNA project is a multi-disciplinary collaborative project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to undertake research into the collection and processing of urine from urine diversion dry toilets (UDDTs). The aim of the project is to recover the nutrients present in urine to produce fertilizer. EAWAG, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, is the lead organisation on this project, with the University of KwaZulu-Natal (WASH R&D Centre, as the PRG) and eThekwini Water and Sanitation (EWS) as project partners.
2010 – 2011
Susan Barclay CC
The aim of this project is to increase the capacity of staff within DAEA, other regulators, civil society and industry in the area of cleaner production and waste minimisation through involving them in the establishment and running of a Waste Minimisation Club (WMC) within the Isithebe Industrial Estate at Mandeni on the North Coast of KwaZulu-Natal.
2009
A Feasibility Study in eThekwini Municipality on Anaerobic Digestion for the Treatment of Toxic and High Strength Organic Wastes: A Study of the Business Case of Treating High Strength Industrial Wastes
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
Desktop study, based largely on scientific work previously presented in the MScEng thesis of Sacks (1997) and WRC project K5/1074 Co-digestion of high strength/toxic organic effluents in anaerobic digesters. This was supplemented by information provided by the eThekwini Water and Sanitation department on the anaerobic digesters and on industrial effluents received by the Southern Wastewater Treatment Works, and information on low hazard and high hazard liquid effluents disposed of to landfill provided by Enviroserv.
2008 – 2010
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
In 2008, The Pollution Research Group (PRG) joined the University of Cape Town’s Water Research Group in a continuation research study to develop mass balance models for wastewater treatment plants.
2007 – 2011
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The project started in 2007 and was originally planned to end in 2010, but was twice extended in 2011 and 2012. 2007 was used to conduct a survey of South African municipal systems for regulating the discharge of industrial effluent to sewers. The results of this survey were presented at a workshop for municipal wastewater treatment officers in November 2007. One of the outcomes of the workshop was to establish support for the methodology proposed for the rest of the project.
2007 – 2011
University of Free State
In 2007, the WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG) joined the Institute of Groundwater Studies at the University of the Free State on a study to research the fate and transport of Light Non-aqueous Phase Liquids (LNAPL) in groundwater in South Africa. LNAPLs are organic chemicals that exist in a lighter-than-water immiscible phase when released into the environment. They include a number of organic products and represent some of the most widely used potential environmental contaminants. While existing research provides a valuable knowledge base for understanding the fate and transport of LNAPLs, limited research has been carried out in South Africa. This project examined LNAPLs in the specific geologic and climactic conditions of South Africa.
2003 – 2006
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The focus of this study was on the nitrification process operating in activating sludge at wastewater treatment plants. The chief objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of trade effluent on the nitrification process at Amanzimtoti Wastewater Treatment plant and determine which types of industry, if any, had the most negative effects on the nitrification process of activated sludge at that plant.
2003 – 2005
Susan Barclay CC
The focus of this project is to identify options for waste reduction through undertaking assessments and feasibility studies, and assist in the implementation of these options through staff training. In other words, the main focus is on the use of waste minimisation techniques.
2002 – 2006
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The focus of this project is to identify options for waste reduction through undertaking assessments and feasibility studies, and assist in the implementation of these options through staff training. In other words, the main focus is on the use of waste minimisation techniques.
2002 – 2006
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The overall aim of this project was to promote both water and energy savings in the South African process industry through more efficient use of both process water and cooling and heating utilities. This was to be achieved by creating awareness of potential water and energy savings in the process industry and through the development and promotion of tools incorporating water and thermal pinch and mathematical modelling for the optimisation of water and heat exchanger networks.
2002 – 2004
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
This project aimed to build capacity within the industry by demonstrating and apply advanced control techniques to water treatment processes. Target levels were senior managers (an appreciation of the potential), middle managers (project identification and management) and engineers (implementers of the advanced control systems). The application of advanced process control techniques should reveal that opportunities exist for enhanced management and operation of water systems.
2001 – 2004
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
In this study, the performance of an anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) in the treatment of domestic wastewater was assessed by extrapolating existing understanding of the characteristics of laboratory-scale ABRs to design a pilot-scale reactor. The report proposes improvements in ABR dimensions and installation in Guidelines for the design, operation and maintenance of an ABR treating domestic wastewater. Recommendations regarding the appropriateness of the system for different applications and suggestions for management and maintenance strategies were made.
2001 – 2003
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
This study aims to assess the environmental burdens due to abstracting, treating, distributing, collecting and disposing (including recycling) water in an urban context. As such it intends to calculate and present the environmental burdens for a terrestrial pathway of the water cycle, i.e. from the abstraction of water from rivers through to the return of the same water (after it was used) to the sea. This project should be seen as a logical continuation of the work done for another WRC project (project No 1077) entitled The Use of Life Cycle Assessment in the Selection of Water Treatment Processes.
2000 – 2003
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The Water Research Commission sponsored a project from 1998 to 2000 to investigate the feasibility of establishing waste minimisation clubs (WMCs) in South Africa to promote cleaner production to industry. This project was carried out by the WASH R&D Centre and two pilot WMCs were established – one in the Metal Finishing sector in the greater Durban Metropolitan Area, and the second one, a cross-sectoral club in the Hammarsdale region.
2000 – 2003
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
In South Africa, the ABR could be implemented on-site for pre-treatment of agro-industrial wastes, with high CODcontents or those with xenobiotic components, which prevent conventional treatment at a wastewatcr treatmentworks. Current disposal options include marine discharge, co-disposal on municipal landfills or dilution with potablewater. With implementation of the ABR, waste minimisation practices could be adopted to concentrate effluents on-site. Pre-treatment in the ABR. with a biomass acclimated to the particular effluent, should facilitate sufficientdegradation such that the effluent could then be discharged to sewer for treatment.
2000 – 2003
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The aims of this project were to:
- Illustrate that high-strength or toxic organic liquid effluents can be disposed in conventional sewage works at the anaerobic digestion stage.
- Provide a protocol for the evaluation of liquid effluents for disposal in conventional wastewater treatment digesters.
- Provide an alternative treatment system for high-strength liquid effluents that are currently being disposed to landfill.
2000 – 2003
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The overall aim of the project was to develop and demonstrate a cross-flow micro-filtration unit for the improvement of anaerobic digesters at Waste Water Treatment Works. The project was initiated in January 1993 and ended in December 1996, following an extension of one year due a variety of mechanical problems experienced.
2000 – 2003
Development of support systems for cross-flow microfiltration
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
TBC
2000 – 2003
Technical support programme for the application of dynamic membrane plants for the treatment of industrial effluents
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
TBC
2000 – 2003
Detergent phosphorous in South Africa: Impact on eutrophication with specific reference to the Mgeni Catchment
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The main study objectives were to assess the contribution of detergent phosphorus to eutrophication in the Mgeni system and determine the economic and water quality consequences of eliminating detergent phosphorus plus provide a methodology that could be used for studies in other catchments.
2000 – 2002
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
Water Pinch Analysis thus involves a set of systematic formal techniques to handle the complex problem of hierarchical water allocation to a system consisting of a number of processes, and choosing the best combination of strategies. The theory that appears in the literature is still developing. The practical application of this theory is not as well established in the open literature, and particularly not in a South African context.
1999 – 2004
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
A joint initiative by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) and the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) prompted the Danish government (DANIDA) into formulating a programme of assistance to South Africa in Cleaner Production in 1996. Five major industrial sectors were targeted, one of which was the textile industry. The Cleaner Textile Production Project (CTPP) was initiated in June 2000 and ended in June 2003.
1999 – 2002
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a numerical procedure to calculate the properties of moving fluid. Most water treatment processes involve the movement of water. The project on which this report was based was unusual in that it was initiated to provide a CFD modelling service to assist water researchers who felt that it could enhance their investigations. The main content of the report is a series of case studies, each corresponding to a different investigation. To give the report some thematic consistency, it has been compiled with a view to illustrating the kinds of situations where CFD modelling is useful.
1999 – 2001
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
This study compares the environmental burdens resulting from two different technologies used in the production of potable water in South Africa. The first one is the conventional technology and is currently employed at Wiggins Waterworks, a waterworks of Umgeni Water situated in Durban, South Africa. The second technology is based on the use of an emerging South African membrane filtration method, and the following processes are involved: prefiltration, membrane filtration, chlorination (different to the previous technology) and storage. There are three pilot plants employing this membrane technology in South Africa.
1998 – 2000
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The Water Research Commission sponsored a project from 1998 to 2000 to investigate the feasibility of establishing waste minimisation clubs in South Africa to promote cleaner production to industry. This project was carried out by the WASH R&D Centre and two pilot waste minimisation clubs were established – one in the Metal Finishing sector in the greater Durban Metropolitan Area, and the second one, a crosssectoral club in the Hammarsdale region
1998 – 2000
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The Manual is aimed at a person / organisation that wishes to initiate a waste minimisation club and requires guidelines for undertaking such a project. It addresses aspects such as how to form a club, call meetings, determine the level of contributions from companies, identify some of the problems that can occur, and explains the various roles of the people involved. It also provides sample letters and presentations, and provide sources of information.
1998 – 2000
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
Training is essential for a successful waste minimisation project and for this reason a second manual is also available which provides the basic material required to train club members in waste minimisation and is based on the training material developed by Enviros Consulting, UK. This training manual provides information on waste minimisation in general, how to conduct a waste minimisation audit, how to identify waste minimisation options, guidelines on conducting a feasibility analysis, and the importance of monitoring and targeting.
1996 – 1999
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The operation of plants can be assessed and improved by the use of mathematical modelling tools which require accurate input data. Thus, knowledge of the wastewater characteristics is an important step towards the optimum modelling, design and operation of present and future plants. However, for these tools to be effective, the input data needs to be accurate which is dependent on the current methods used to determine them.
1996 – 1999
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The damaging effect of the chemical process industry on the environment is one of the greatest challenges facing industry throughout the world. The reduction of both the consumption of water and production of effluent by this economic sector is of vital importance to the protection of South Africa’s water resources and environment. The above factors have resulted in wastewater minimisation becoming an important environmental issue to South African industry.
1996 – 1998
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
Numerous publications exist as to the methodology of conducting a waste minimisation survey and describing the advantages of reducing waste at source, some of which are written specifically for the textile industry. However, it was felt that although these publications were useful, no guide existed that worked systematically through each phase of conducting a waste minimisation survey, from the planning through to implementation, including target key performance indicator figures for bench-marking and explanations on mass balances for the specific textile processes. Therefore, a two-year project (sponsored by the WRC) was initiated to develop a detailed guide to assist the industry and its employees in conducting waste minimisation surveys and implementing cleaner production technology.
1994 – 1996
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
The capital infrastructure for water and wastewater treatment will have to be increased considerably in the immediate future. It is important that new and existing plants are designed to operate as efficiently as possible. The increased activity in this sector will put pressure on experienced designers. One way to promote efficient design and to de-bottleneck existing equipment is to use modern computer techniques.
1989 – 1991
WASH R&D Centre (as the PRG)
Reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes can be used for the separation and concentration of aqueous solutions. As such, they are often used in desalination and in water treatment of mainly industrial effluent. Formulating a model of the transport across the membrane and using this in order to predict membrane performance can be a way of saving time and money otherwise spent on experiments. As the model has to be verified, experiments cannot be omitted completely, but a model should at least be able to tell the engineer what kinds of experiments have to be done and thus reduce the number of experiments.
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