January 13, 2020
Civil engineering professor part of award-winning research team cited by U.S. Department of Defense program
Prathap Parameswaran, assistant professor of civil engineering at Kansas State University, was part of a team of professionals recognized with the 2019 Environmental Security Technology Certification Program Project-of-the-Year Award for Environmental Restoration.
Stacy Hutchinson, associate dean and professor in the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering, was a key liaison in administrative oversight of the subcontracted project focusing on resource management and logistical field support. Kahao Lim, doctoral student in civil engineering, was also a team member.
The Environmental Security Technology Certification Program is an environmental technology demonstration and validation program of the U.S. Department of Defense and was established in 1995 to promote the transfer of innovative technologies that have successfully established proof of concept to field or production use.
The award-winning project, "Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor for Sustainable Wastewater Treatment," was a collaborative effort of 13 professionals from industry, academia and government. The team's work demonstrated and validated anaerobic membrane bioreactor technology for domestic wastewater treatment. Two pilot systems were incorporated using two different methods of ultrafiltration membrane flux maintenance: gas sparging and granulated activated carbon-fluidized.
The Kansas State University team successfully operated the gas-sparged anaerobic membrane bioreactor at Fort Riley for 472 days, demonstrating the recovery of water, energy and nutrients from domestic wastewater.