Sustainable Resource Recovery from Used Water (edX)

This course is about the state of the art in resource recovery technologies from wastewater. Regardless of your background, we will teach you the core concepts underpinning the recovery of carbon, nutrients, energy and water.

Learn from experts in wastewater engineering from The University of Queensland and Tsinghua University. This course will help you identify opportunities towards the sustainable management of wastewater as well as understand the major applications for recovered products.
What you'll learn

- Identify recoverable resources in wastewater.

- Appreciate the breadth of potential products.

- Discover the technological principles of the resource recovery processes.

- Recognise the resources that can be recovered in different situations.

- Appreciate sustainability in the urban water cycle and the importance of resources recovery in a circular economy context.

Syllabus

MODULE 1: Introduction to the water cycle and used water management

Impact of water cycle on water resource sustainability, sources of used water, consumption of energy and resource recovery potentials, trends for used water management.

MODULE 2: Carbon

Carbon biological transformations, anaerobic digestion, carbon to electricity: microbial cells, carbon to PHA, cellulose recovery.

MODULE 3: Nutrients

Nitrogen and phosphorous biological metabolism, microbial protein production and use as feed or fertiliser, phosphorous recovery, source separation, element recovery.

MODULE 4: Water

Fit-for-purpose water reuse, water recycling for drinking or irrigation use, environmental application of reclaimed water, industrial application of reclaimed water - desalination.

MODULE 5: Integrated solutions and successful cases

Sustainability assessment of water technologies, the Huaifang case study, expert panel discussion, visions for the future of resource recovery.