Dr. Wendong Tao presents his vacuum stripping and absorption prototype.
This award will advance research into sustainable wastewater treatment
SYRACUSE, New York – September 21, 2023 – Dr. Wendong Tao, professor in the Department of Environmental Resources Engineering at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), is one of eight researchers in the 64-campus SUNY system to receive seed funding through the Fund technological acceleration (TAF). ). The awards were announced September 15 by SUNY Chancellor John B. King, Jr.
This investment from SUNY will advance Tao’s work in sustainable wastewater treatment. He invented a patented system that removes ammonia from wastewater and uses the recovered chemicals to produce fertilizer.
“The TAF award demonstrates SUNY’s dedication to the critical work our faculty undertake,” said ESF President Joanie Mahoney. “Dr. Tao’s innovative research turns a generally considered waste into a boon for the agricultural sector. Congratulations to Dr. Tao for receiving this support to take his work to the next stage.
“Our vacuum stripping and absorption prototype can play a crucial role in filling future technology gaps facing water resource recovery facilities, animal feeding operations and landfills. This approach provides a cost-effective solution to recover ammonia from wastewater and treat digestate and manure while producing nitrogen fertilizers,” said Dr Tao. “SUNY’s investment in our prototype will make full-scale design and field demonstration possible. »
Tao has been working on this topic since 2014. His VaSATM the technology is a method of converting ammonium present in wastewater into a valuable product
— ammonium sulfate fertilizer — while improving the efficiency of biogas production and ensuring that treated wastewater can be safely used in agriculture. It combines vacuum, heat and chemical reactions to achieve these goals.
The prototype was tested with anaerobically digested sewage sludge at the City of San Luis Obispo Water Resources Recovery Facility in California from January to April 2022 and with leachate at the San Luis Obispo Regional Landfill. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority in Ava, NY, from May to July 2023. The pilot test project won the 2022 California Association of Sanitation Agencies Award for Excellence in Innovation and resilience.
As part of the TAF award, this prototype will be used for pilot testing in summer 2024 at a biogas plant in Norway in collaboration with the Norwegian company Antec Biogas AS. The TAF award will mainly be used to build a new prototype with an improved design.
Research and technical development was funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation Partnerships for Innovation Program and the Innovation Corps Program, the New York State Center for Clean Water Technology, the New York State Center of Excellence in Healthy Water Solutions and economic development. Administration of the XCEED program.
Funded by SUNY and managed by the SUNY Research Foundation, TAF helps inventors and faculty scientists translate their research into commercialization-ready technologies, targeting critical research and development stages, such as feasibility studies, prototyping and testing, which demonstrate that an idea or innovation has commercial potential. The objective is to increase their attractiveness to potential investors. TAF funding is awarded through a competitive process that considers several factors, including availability of intellectual property protection, marketability, commercial potential, feasibility and scale of impact.
Since launching TAF in 2011, SUNY has invested more than $3 million in the program to successfully advance the commercial readiness of 65 innovations born on SUNY campuses. The program catalyzed a follow-on investment of an additional $16 million from development partners, including government agencies, industrial licensees and early-stage investors.
About SUNY FSE
The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) is dedicated to the study of the environment, developing renewable technologies, and building a sustainable and resilient future through design, policy, and management environment and natural resources. Members of the College community share a passion for protecting the health of the planet and a deep commitment to the rigorous application of science to improve the way humans interact with the world. The College offers academic programs ranging from Associate of Applied Science to Doctor of Philosophy. ESF students live, study, and conduct research on the main campus in Syracuse, NY, and on 25,000 acres of field stations located in various ecosystems across the state.
About the SUNY Research Foundation
The SUNY Research Foundation (RF) is the nation’s largest comprehensive university research foundation and supports a vibrant research ecosystem that cultivates innovation and entrepreneurship in several key areas, including artificial intelligence, clean energy, biotechnology, longevity, drug addiction, Nextgen Quantum. Informatics, environmental health and resilience.
Driving social impact, improving human well-being, and spurring economic growth, the RF provides SUNY’s 30 public campuses with an infrastructure of people, technology, and processes that enables faculty to write and submit grant proposals to agencies, foundations and companies; establish contracts and manage funds awarded to conduct research projects on campus; protect and commercialize the intellectual property created within the framework of these projects; and build lasting partnerships that shape the future.
About the State University of New York
The State University of New York, celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles from any of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. . System-wide, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, one law school, the nation’s oldest maritime school, the state’s only optometry school , and operates a national laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy. In total, SUNY serves approximately 1.4 million students across its entire portfolio of credit and noncredit courses and programs, continuing education and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Systemwide research spending totals nearly $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2022, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit suny.edu.
