AWMC Annual Report 2010 by Advanced Water Management Centre

Annual Report 2010

Contents

Executive Deanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Message

Directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Report

2010 Achievements

Funding Achievements

Partnerships & Commercial Activities

Analytical Research & Services

Research Programs Water Recycling (Bio)Electrochemical Systems Greenhouse Gases Microbial Ecology Sewer Corrosion & Odour Research (SCORe) Bioproducts & Nutrient Removal Anaerobic Technologies

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The AWMC Team

International Visitors

Financial Report

2010 Active Research Grants

2010 Publications

Conference Participation

2010 Seminars

AWMC Annual Report 2010 1

Executive Dean’s Message

Introduction

“The Advanced Water Management Centre is an internationally recognised centre of excellence in water research and innovation.”

The Advanced Water Management Centre (AWMC) was established in 1996, a time when the challenge for the global water industry was focused on the protection of waterways and reduction of nutrients in the environment. The AWMC met this challenge and led the world in nutrient removal, innovative processes and process control of wastewater treatment plants. The impact of this early research is still being applied today by water authorities, both nationally and internationally, and local agro-industries. Today the AWMC still shows great relevance to the global water industry. This is exemplified by the number of direct collaborators and partners, which include industry, Australian Government bodies (federal, state and local), associations and research institutes. Excellence underpins all of the AWMC activities. The AWMC research program has changed the way many authorities view their treatment processes and infrastructure. Recently, the AWMC has challenged the way the industry views greenhouse gas emissions, the impact and footprint of treatment systems, nutrient recovery, by-products from waste, and the way the industry can protect and restore our water resources and critical infrastructure. As the Chair of the AWMC Advisory Board it is my pleasure to introduce the 2010 annual report. It has been another successful and rewarding year for the AWMC team, which promises a future of exciting developments. Professor Graham Schaffer Executive Dean Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology

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Director’s Report “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our industry partners and research collaborators that help us achieve strong outcomes and results”

Water does not seem to get out of the headlines – at least not in Australia. If it’s not droughts, then it’s floods, water recycling, desalination plants, water quality, water for the environment, or something else water related! It certainly keeps us busy at the AWMC and continuously poses interesting new challenges. Looking through this latest summary of our activities, you will notice that we have been very productive across a broad range of topics in the last year. Depending on existing and emerging needs, we adapt our research activities regularly as illustrated for example by the fact that our ‘clean water’ research field has expanded from water recycling to include storm water and drinking water related topics, such as disinfection by-products. At the same time, other ‘hot topics’ such as greenhouse gas emissions, sewer odour and corrosion management, and anaerobic technologies are also performing strongly. We continue to extend our fundamental understanding in both the microbial science and environmental biotechnology areas with the aim to develop the next generation of technologies. These include novel nutrient removal and recovery concepts, biofilm control methods and bioelectrochemical processes, which are now being used in such diverse applications as sulfide reduction in sewers or ferric and phosphate recovery from water recycling sludges. Our outstanding performance over the last few years has been strongly recognised in 2010. Within The University of Queensland, the AWMC has been recognised in the top tier in terms of our overall research performance in the ‘Institute Based Performance Framework’ assessment. The nation-wide research quality assessment, called Excellence of Research for Australia (ERA), was also very positive for the centre. In the AWMC fields of research, ‘Environmental Biotechnology’ and ‘Environmental Engineering’, UQ’s ranking was in the top category nationally, considered to be ‘well above world standard’. These rankings solidify the AWMC’s position as a world leading water management and research centre.

In November 2010 we had a formal, external review of our overall operations, which concluded that our activity and performance was ‘highly commendable’. Most pleasing was the extremely strong support provided by a range of industry representatives who were interviewed by the review panel. Given the quality of the expert panel, the outcome is particularly valuable and the set of recommendations will help in further improving our operations and overall position within UQ. The recommendations, on a revised funding model, improved accommodation situation and the possible change of the Centre category and status, help to make our long-term future look brighter than ever. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our industry partners and research collaborators, in Australia and internationally, for their ongoing support of our research activities. It is this close engagement with colleagues and partners from industry and academia that help us achieve strong results, which provide direct, mutual benefits to their organisations. And last but not least, my biggest thanks and recognition go to all of our staff and students who are ultimately responsible for achieving such exceptional research outcomes, through their tireless dedication and outstanding commitment to excellence and relevance. This report highlights just some of their achievements over the last year. I trust you will enjoy reading this report and hope that it will inspire you to get in touch with us or to further continue our valuable collaboration in the future.

Director Professor Jurg Keller

Introduction Section title

AWMC AnnualReport Report 2010 AWMC Annual 2010 3

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2010 Achievements

Dr Florent Angly with his work titled ‘Viruses in the faecal microbiota of monozygotic twins and their mothers’, published in the highly prestigious journal, Nature.

• The AWMC was one of three finalists chosen for the 2010 Eureka Award in the category of ‘Research and Innovation’ for water research and innovation as a centre. • In the UQ ‘Institute Based Performance Framework’ the AWMC was ranked in the top 3 of more than 60% of key performance indicators. The AMWC excelled in the three categories of Esteem, Impact and Operational Excellence outperforming larger University institutes. • Dr Florent Angly’s co-authorship on the work titled ‘Viruses in the faecal microbiota of monozygotic twins and their mothers’ was published in the highly prestigious journal “Nature”. For this work Dr Angly was also awarded a Faculty of Engineering Architecture and Information Technology (EAIT) Impact Award. • Prof Zhiguo Yuan was awarded an EAIT Research Higher Degree Supervision Excellence award and a UQ Graduate School Award for Excellence in Research Higher Degree Supervision, in recognition of his outstanding mentoring achievements over many years. • Prof Zhiguo Yuan and Prof Jurg Keller were appointed Fellows by the International Water Association. They were part of an inaugural group of 34 people chosen worldwide, and two of the four Australians selected. • Dr Maria José Farré was appointed as a visiting scholar at the University of North Carolina for 3 years in collaboration with A/Prof Howard Weinberg. • Dr Paritam Dutta, AWMC PhD graduate, won first prize in the Huber Technology Prize 2010: Future Water, for his proposal on the “Electrochemical Removal and Recovery of Sulfide from Wastewater: Microbial Interactions and Process Development”. • Mr Steven Kenway, PhD Student, was awarded a 2010 Fullbright Scholarship which has taken him to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories and the University of California, Berkeley, to research linkages between water use, energy and greenhouse gas. • Mrs Vivienne Clayton was awarded a 2010 Miracle Worker Award for ongoing support and dedication to AWMC activities.

• At the 2010 EAIT Faculty Professional Staff Awards, Mrs Wendy Mahon was awarded the Leadership Prize, Mrs Hong Lee the prize for consistent performance and Mrs Vivienne Clayton the Customer Service award. • Mr Jeremy Barr, PhD student, had his image selected for the front cover of the November issue of ‘Applied and Environmental Microbiology’. • Mr Ilje Pikaar, PhD student, won the “Student Highly Recommended” award at the 2010 Trailblazer competition. • Mr Mohamed (Fauzi) Haroon, PhD student, won the Australian Society for Microbiology (ASM) Microbe Image 2010. • Dr Liu Ye was awarded third prize in the 2010 Organo Water Prize in China. The prize is funded by Japanese Organo company and awarded to the most outstanding Chinese graduate in water related majors. • Dr Oriol Gutierrez was presented with the ‘Highly Commended’ award for a Young Water Professional at the 6th International IWA conference on Sewer Processes and Networks, 7-10 November 2010, Surfers Paradise, Australia. • A/Prof Damien Batstone was presented with an EAIT Faculty Teaching Award for his service to the Undergraduate Chemical Engineering Degree. • Dr Korneel Rabaey and Dr René Rozendal published a strategic review on Microbial Electrosynthesis in Nature Reviews Microbiology. The manuscript made the journal’s cover for the October 2010 edition. • The project “Bio-electrochemically upgrading CO2 and H2S fractions of biogas: Increasing the efficiency and adding value to Anaerobic Digestion technology”, led by Dr Shelley Brown, was awarded the 2010 Lettinga Award. This prize recognises innovative projects in the field of anaerobic technology for waste and wastewater treatment aiming at cleaner production or recycling, sustainable development and/or resource conservation.

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Funding Achievements ARC Discovery Projects • “Novel concepts for bioelectrochemical generation of renewable fuels and chemicals from wastewater” - Prof Jurg Keller, Dr René Rozendal with partners from UQ, Wageningen University (The Netherlands), Technische Universität Braunschweig (Germany) and Twente University (The Netherlands) ARC Linkage Grants • “Fate of micropollutants in water recycling: Influence of dissolved organic matter” - Dr Wolfgang Gernjak with partners from EnTox, University of NSW, Colorado School of Mines (USA), WaterSecure and Veolia Water Australia • “Coals as methane bioreactors: Significance of microbial methane generation in coal seams for coal seam gas (CSG) production and carbon dioxide (CO2) geosequestration” - Dr Gene Tyson with partners from UQ and Colorado School of Mines (USA) • “Iron and phosphorus recovery from ferric precipitation sludge” - Prof Jurg Keller, Dr René Rozendal, and Dr Korneel Rabaey, with partners from Veolia Water Australia and WaterSecure UQ Early Career Research Grant Scheme • “Detection of biofoulants based on functionalised micro-cantilevers” - Dr Bogdan Donose • “Reductive electrochemical remediation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) using quinone mediators” Dr Jelena Radjenovic • “Application of Raman spectroscopy to the study of extracellular electron transfer (EET) in engineered systems” - Dr Bernardino Virdis • “A novel method for reducing sludge production in biological wastewater treatment plants” - Dr Liu Ye UQ Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Dr Bing-Jie Ni was awarded the highly competitive UQ Postdoctoral Fellowship. UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund “Impact of oxygen on methane production in sewer systems” - Dr Ramon Ganigué Pagès

WaterReuse Research Foundation “Regulated and Emerging Disinfection By-Products during the Production of High Quality Recycled Water” Dr Maria José Farré in collaboration with WaterSecure, Veolia and the University of North Carolina, USA SEQ Urban Water Security Research Alliance “Assessment of emerging and regulated disinfection by-products in South East Queensland Drinking Water” Dr Maria José Farré with partners from Griffith University, Bond University, Seqwater and SEQ Water Grid Manager Major Equipment and Infrastructure (MEI) Funding • A/Prof Damien Batstone was the lead applicant (with several others) for a proposal to get two new anaerobic chambers and associated equipment, which received approximately $60k in funding • Dr Korneel Rabaey was successful in leading a $100k funding proposal for three multichannel potentiostats Queensland Sustainable Energy Innovation Fund (QSEIF) Grant “Bioelectrochemical system for production of caustic soda from pulp and paper wastewater” Dr René Rozendal and Dr Korneel Rabaey. This project is set up through the AWMC spin-off company Bilexys. Dr Korneel Rabaey, Dr René Rozendal and Mr Cameron Smeal (Gelita) obtained a Researcher in Business Grant to explore a novel approach for sulfide recovery from industrial wastewaters. Dr Korneel Rabaey negotiated a new UQ Strategic Initiative, which will be known as the Centre for Microbial Electrosynthesis (CEMES). CEMES will focus on the electrical interface between microorganisms and surfaces, with the objective of using this interface for biofuel and biochemical production.

Achievements

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Partnerships & Commercial Activities Industry relevant research evident in more than 90 industry and research partners

We wish to acknowledge and thank the following Association, Industry and Research Partners for their continued support in 2010. AECOM Allconnex Water AnoxKaldnes Biopolymer (Sweden) Australian Academy of Science Australian Government • Australian Research Council • National Water Commission • Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, UQ Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, UQ Australian Institute of Marine Sciences Australian Institute for Nuclear Science and Engineering Australian Meat Processors Corporation Australian Pork Limited Australian Water Association Barwon Water Bond University Brisbane City Council - Urban Utilities CH2M Hill CSIRO Curtin University DCM Department of Energy, USA Ecowise Environmental Environmental Biotechnology CRC Foster’s Brewery Gelita Pty Ltd GHD Ghent University, Belgium Grains Research and Development Corporation Griffith University Healthy Waterways Pty Ltd Hunter Water Corporation INRA - French National Institute for Agricultural Research International Water Centre International Water Association IRSA, Italy IWES J. Craig Venter Institute, USA Joint Genome Institute, USA Linkwater Meat and Livestock Australia Melbourne Water Monash University Moreton Bay Regional Council - Unity Water National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology (EnTox)

QGC Pty Ltd Queensland Government • Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation • Queensland Environmental Protection Agency • Department of Environment and Resource Management • Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services • Queensland Water Commission • Smart State Funding Program Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation SA Water Santos Pty Ltd SEQ Urban Water Security Research Alliance Seqwater SEQ Water Grid Manager Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, USA South East Water Limited Sunshine Coast Regional Council Sydney Water Corporation Technical University Delft, The Netherlands Trisco Foods Teys Bros. UniQuest United Water International Université Laval, Canada University of Aalborg, Denmark University of Arizona, USA University of Auckland, New Zealand University of East Anglia, UK University of California, Berkeley, USA University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), USA University of Melbourne University of New South Wales University of Newcastle University of Science and Technology of China, China University of Sydney University of Tasmania University of Technology, Sydney Veolia Environment Research and Innovation Veolia Environmental Services Veolia Water Australia Visy Pulp and Paper Wageningen University, The Netherlands Waste Technologies of Australia Water Corporation Water Quality Research Australia Water Services Association of Australia WaterSecure WSN Environmental Solutions Australia

AWMC Annual Report 2010 7

The Advanced Water Management Centre has provided South East Water (SEW) support in upgrading their Mt Martha wastewater treatment plant digesters. These digesters are now in the order of 20 years old, and have become capacity limited. Rather than replacing the digesters, SEW decided to upgrade them by implementing temperature-phased anaerobic digestion. This process has been investigated extensively at the AWMC, and was found to increase the performance substantially in exactly the application SEW is considering. Dr Damien Batstone assisted Adjunct Prof Ken Hartley in evaluating the existing SEW digesters and providing expected performance outcomes. A subsequent laboratory scale investigation provided information needed to further optimise design of the process. “Having the AWMC in Australia provides an important research service that we can easily access, but their core research that is also highly relevant, provides us with additional process options, and reduces costs associated with process uncertainty.”, Mr Terry Anderson from SEW corporate strategy. Personnel: A/Prof Damien Batstone, Dr Paul Jensen and Adjunct Prof Ken Hartley

CSIRO Flagship Cluster – Microbial Diversity in Engineered Systems In 2010, CSIRO established the Energy Transformed Flagship, which included a cluster aimed at “Biotechnological solutions to Australia’s transport energy and greenhouse gas challenges”. Within this cluster, Dr Korneel Rabaey and Dr Gene Tyson coordinate a significant effort to better understand microbial communities in engineered systems. In collaboration with CSIRO, the project team will set up (bio)electrochemical systems and anaerobic digesters designed and operated to provide fuels or chemicals starting from (waste) biomass. In these reactors, the team will investigate the dynamics and succession of microbial communities, as well as the directed evolution in specific genes such as cellulases. The ultimate goals are to better understand the relationship between microbial communities and system functionality, to mine for novel cellulases or other key degradation genes, and to explore the impact of selective pressure on microbial community development. Chief Investigators: Dr Korneel Rabaey and Dr Gene Tyson; Project staff: Dr Paul Dennis, Mr Mike Imelfort and Mr Kun Guo; Collaborators: Prof Mark Morrison, CSIRO

SEWEX SeweX is a consulting business based at the AWMC, and is operated under UniQuest Pty Ltd, the commercial arm of UQ. SeweX provides consulting services on the management of sulfide related odour problems in sewer systems to industry. The SeweX (Sewer Transformation) model, which has been developed by the Centre’s strong and internationally leading research team on sewer systems in the past seven years, is primarily used for identifying the problems and investigating options for their mitigation. SeweX also offers strong expertise and tools for offline and online measurement of wastewater characteristics in sewer systems. SeweX has successfully completed a number of consulting projects for water utilities across Australia. Allconnex Water (Gold Coast), Unity Water (Moreton Bay) and South East Water (Melbourne) have all benefited from SeweX services in the past. The SeweX model is a mathematical model describing the physical, chemical and biological processes in sewers. The model also predicts the formation and emission of methane, a potent green house gas, in sewer networks. The SeweX model won the 2008 International Water Association’s Project Innovation Award (East Asia and Pacific Region) and the 2008 Excellence Award in Research, Development and Innovation of Engineers of Australia (Queensland Division). The model is under continuous enhancement under the Sewer Corrosion and Odour Research (SCORe) project - see page 20. For further information, please contact the SeweX Business Manager Mr. Shaun Corrie on shaun@sewex.com.au or visit our website at www.sewex.com.au.

BILEXYS Bilexys has developed a revolutionary wastewater treatment technology, which converts organics in wastewater to caustic soda and hydrogen peroxide for re-use on site. The Bilexys technology is based on a bioelectrochemical system, which harnesses naturally occurring electrochemically active bacteria as catalysts to convert dissolved organic pollutants to hydrogen peroxide and caustic soda. The process is highly controllable and can produce the desired product at high purity. The Bilexys technology is applicable to a wide range of wastewater types, concentrations and flowrates. The chemicals produced by Bilexys reduce or replace the need to purchase and bring in chemicals, providing significant environmental and economic benefit to customers, with payback times between two and three years. Target industries include pulp and paper, petrochemical, breweries and wineries, with a total market opportunity of several billion dollars. Bilexys technology has already been taken successfully from the one litre laboratory scale to a fully operational pilot plant system. For more information please contact info@bilexys.com

Partnerships

South East Water Upgrades the Mt Martha Biosolids Treatment Train

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Analytical Research & Services “Having the AWMC in Australia provides an important research service that we can easily access, but their core research that is also highly relevant, provides us with additional process options, and reduces costs associated with process uncertainty.” - Mr Terry Anderson from SEW corporate strategy.

The AWMC Analytical Services Laboratory (ASL)

AWMC Offers Methane Potential and Activity Testing

The AWMC has an analytical laboratory providing services to internal and external clients. Besides routine analyses, the ASL continuously adapts and develops new analytical methods in the area of waste, surface and drinking water in order to support the AWMC researchers in their new research areas.

Tests developed at the AWMC can provide certainty for anaerobic digestion projects. Anaerobic digestion technologies are an attractive option for the treatment of organic solids, resulting in a net energy generation and production of safe, easy-to-handle residues for beneficial reuse in agriculture. However, the feasibility of such a project is highly dependent on the speed and extent of degradation, which can vary for different materials. The AWMC is a key leader and developer of anaerobic biodegradability, activity and inhibition tests, offering independent testing to enable certainty in feasibility analysis. Ongoing testing of existing projects offers benchmarks to assess process efficiency and product quality. In 2010, BMP testing was used to help Sydney Water Corporation evaluate options for upgrading a large existing wastewater treatment plant. A variation of this test allows independent testing of anaerobic seed biomass, and digester biomass health.

In 2010 the ASL was awarded a Major Equipment Infrastructure Grant (MEI). This allowed the purchase of a new HPLC and a CTC/GC/ECD for the analysis of low levels of greenhouse gases and disinfection by-products. On a routine basis ASL is measuring nutrients (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate), Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen and total phosphorus, sulfur species (hydrogen sulfide, sulfate, thiosulfate, sulfite), anions, ethanol, methanol, and other alcohols, greenhouse gases (N2O, CH4), disinfection by-products, total organic carbon, glucose, lactic, formic, succinic and volatile fatty acids, organics, pharmaceuticals and other micropollutants, organic sulfur compounds, polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and polyhydroxyvalerate (PHV) and COD (chemical oxygen demand). The Analytical Services Lab is equipped with the following instruments: • Gas chromatograph with CTC autosampler and electron capture detector (ECD) • LC-MS-MS (AB4000 QTRAP) • Gas chromatograph with masspectrometer and sulfur chemiluminescence detector (GC-MS/SCD) • HPLC with reflective index, photoarray and fluorescence detector • Three gas chromatographs with FID detectors • Total Organic Carbon Analyser with Total Nitrogen detector (TOC/TN) • Ion chromatograph with conductivity and UV detector • Flow Injection Analyser • Inductive Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectroscopy instrument (ICP-OES) For more information please contact Dr Beatrice Keller-Lehmann, b.keller@awmc.uq.edu.au

Clients for this testing in 2010 included:Foster’s Brewery Allconnex Water Melbourne Water Sydney Water Corporation Trisco Foods Visy Pulp and Paper WSN Environmental Solutions Australia For more information please contact Dr Damien Batstone, damienb@awmc.uq.edu.au Dr Paul Jensen, p.jensen@awmc.uq.edu.au

Analytical Services

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Services at the Environmental Microbiology Laboratory (EML) The Environmental Microbiology Laboratory (EML) offers a range of services. The EML is a fully equipped modern laboratory for molecular biology and the culturing of microorganisms. These include facilities for manipulation and fingerprinting of DNA and various forms of enrichment and microbial culture techniques. Our location ensures we have ready access to a range of excellent complementary facilities that include confocal laser scanning microscopy, electron microscopy and flow cytometry. We have strong expertise and experience for molecular characterisation of environmental and industry samples particularly for determining microbial community composition. Services include; • Microbial community profiling: Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) and Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (TRFLP) are high throughput methods that are very powerful for the comparison of microbial diversity in a number of samples, for example to examine spatial and temporal population variations. • Community DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis: At the core of identifying microorganisms from environmental samples is sequencing of ribosomal genes. EML uses the latest techniques for cloning and “next-generation” DNA sequencing. Phylogenetic sequence analysis is used to determine the relationship of unknown microorganisms to known representatives. • Microbial community structure using fluorescent probes: Fluorescently-labeled oligonucleotide probes based upon RNA sequences have achieved wide acceptance in the field of microbial ecology. This technique is widely used to visualise and identify microorganisms directly in the environmental sample, and is known as fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH).

Professional Development Courses Offered by the EML FISH Course Fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) is extensively used for analysis of microbial communities in a wide range of environmental samples such as sludge, seawater, rumen and biofilms. The FISH course is held annually at the AWMC and includes both the theory and practice to provide in-depth details and hands-on experience.

ARB Course ARB is a software package for analysis of DNA sequences and determining phylogenetic relationships between organisms. This is a convenient and widely used package that contains a large cumulative database – simplifying management and sequence analysis for phylogenetic comparisons, and for design and evaluation of FISH probes and primers. ARB incorporates some of the newest and most sophisticated tree-building algorithms. The most recent ARB course at EML was successfully conducted with a total of 26 participants. For more information please contact Dr Phil Bond, p.bond@awmc.uq.edu.au Dr Gene Tyson, g.tyson@awmc.uq.edu.au

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AWMC Annual Report 2010 11

Research Programs

The Advanced Water Management Centre is an internationally recognised centre of excellence in innovative water technology and management. Its particular strength is the close integration of biological and chemical sciences, process engineering and informatics. This unique combination forms the basis for ground breaking research but also offers exciting opportunities for the development and application of user-specific solutions to challenging environmental problems.

The current water and energy crisis has brought about a major change in many aspects of the water industry. The shift towards a true urban water cycle, both at local and regional scale, poses numerous challenges and opportunities for the water industry as a whole. The AWMC research portfolio consists of seven linked programs, shown below. The combined efforts of these programs are achieving sustainable outcomes for the water industry, protecting our water resources and critical infrastructure. The following pages takes a look at the each of the programs and the outcomes for 2010.

SEWER RESEARCH Program Leaders Zhiguo Yuan Jurg Keller

MICROBIAL ECOLOGY Program Leaders Phil Bond Gene Tyson

(BIO)ELECTROCHEMICAL SYSTEMS Program Leaders Korneel Rabaey Jurg Keller

GREENHOUSE GASES Program Leaders Zhiguo Yuan Paul Lant

ANAEROBIC TECHNOLOGIES Program Leaders Damien Batstone Paul Jensen WATER RECYCLING Program Leaders Wolfgang Gernjak Jurg Keller

NUTRIENT REMOVAL AND BIOPRODUCTS Program Leaders Maite Pijuan / Fran Slater Steven Pratt

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Water Recycling In 2008, the Water Recycling Program was launched in a context of severe drought. This resulted in A$2.5 Billion water reclamation project to broaden sources of water supply. The implementation of the largest recycled water scheme in the southern hemisphere has provided a unique opportunity for the AWMC to develop cutting edge research on water recycling processes optimisation and alternative technologies evaluation, monitoring and management of emerging contaminants and improved strategies for sustainable purified recycled water (PRW) quality.

UQ, WaterSecure and Veolia Water continue their strategic collaboration with projects on: • Membrane fouling, chemically induced ageing of membrane in RO technologies and integrity in membrane filtration of secondary effluents. • Treatment and management of RO concentrate. • Strategies to control the formation of disinfection by products during the production of PRW. In the framework of the research program “Cities as Water Supply Catchments” ($13.5M) led by Monash University and supported by the National Water Commission, Victoria Smart Water Fund and various industry partners across Australia, AWMC researchers are looking at resolving issues related to safe harvesting of general urban stormwater for both potable and non-potable uses at household, streetscape, and neighbourhood scale.

Membrane Technologies for Advanced Water Treatment In 2010, the Water Recycling Research Program has extended its collaboration with the SEQ Urban Water Security Research Alliance, a partnership between the Queensland Government, CSIRO, The University of Queensland (UQ) and Griffith University. • In the context of source control we investigate which fractions of the total load of pharmaceutical residues in the influent of a sewage treatment plant or advanced water treatment plant originate from hospitals using modelling and experimental evaluations, • With regard to advanced water treatment of municipally treated wastewater, we are looking at alternatives technologies to current microfiltration and reverse osmosis processes such as biological activated carbon and ozonation for the production of recycled water; • In relation to the production of drinking water, we investigate the occurrence of regulated and emerging disinfection by products may be of concern for SEQ.

Membrane technologies generally take an integral part in advanced water treatment schemes for the production of high quality water for recycling in a range of applications including industrial, agricultural and drinking water supply uses. Indeed, systems combining microfiltration and reverse osmosis membranes have successfully been implemented to produce purified recycled water. However, due to environmental and economical drivers, optimisation of these technologies is still necessary. As part of the strategic collaboration between UQ, WaterSecure and Veolia Water Australia, we are actively working on membrane technologies with projects investigating: • Impact of source water on membrane fouling in microfiltration and reverse osmosis membranes, • Impact of fouling control chemicals on reverse osmosis membranes performance and ageing, • Virus surrogates for the assessment of reverse osmosis membranes integrity, • Reverse osmosis membranes rejection of DBPs and micro-pollutants.

Water Recycling

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Stormwater and Human Health Risk

Disinfection By-products in South East Queensland

Stormwater has been seen as a viable alternative water resource for different end uses.

Disinfectants, such as chlorine or chloramines, are powerful oxidants that oxidize the natural organic matter and anthropogenic contaminants present in waters. During this process, disinfection by-products (DBPs) may be generated.

Stormwater contains a wide range of chemicals as well as pathogens, some of which may be harmful to public health. Major impediments to stormwater harvesting and use include a lack of public acceptance and clear regulatory guidance related to a number of chemicals and pathogens that may be present in stormwater prior to its use. To establish stormwater as a viable alternative source water, research is required to: • Identify potential pollutants that may be present in stormwater and • Characterise the associated risk based on exposure. We, along with CSIRO Land and Water and Griffith University are investigating chemical/pathogens and human health risk associated with stormwater which is a part of project Cities as a Catchment for Water Supply. Other partners involved in this research project include Monash University, University of Melbourne, and AECOM sponsored by many industry partners.

Since 2008 we have been investigating the formation of nitrogenous DBPs, such as nitrosamines, in recycled water. This year, the research on DBPs has been extended to investigate regulated and emerging DBPs not only in recycled water but also in drinking water. • First, our ongoing collaboration with WaterSecure and Veolia has been leveraged by the USA funded agency Water Reuse Research Foundation to investigate the occurrence and fate of regulated and emerging DBPs during the production of PRW. • Second, a new project funded by the SEQ Urban Water Security Research Alliance in collaboration with Griffith University, Seqwater, Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management, LinkWater and Queensland Health aims to understand which emerging and regulated DBPs are generated during the production and distribution of drinking water in South East Queensland.

The AWMC Water Recycling Team 2010 Researchers

PhD Students

Visiting Academics

Visiting Students

Dr Julien Reungoat

Mr Maxime Rattier

Prof David Sedlak (University of California, Berkeley USA)

Mr Tan Quach (TU Delft, Netherlands)

Prof Markus Röhricht (FH Giessen, Germany)

Mr Pengzhe Sui (Kyoto University, Japan)

Prof Q. Yang (Henan Normal University, China)

Mr Florian Martin (FH Giessen, Germany)

Dr Adriano Joss (EAWAG, Switzerland)

Mr François Xavier Argaud (University of Joseph Fourier, France)

Dr Wolfgang Gernjak

Ms Chrystelle Ayache

Dr Maria José Farré

Mr Arseto Bagastyo

Dr Christoph Ort

Ms Marie-Laure Pype

Dr Jelena Radjenovic

Ms Katrin Doederer

Dr Marc Pidou

Ms Emmanuelle Filloux

Dr Bogdan Donose Dr Kristell Le Corre

Research Support

Dr Rupak Aryal

Ms Hollie King

Ms Isabelle Pereira (Agro Paris Tech, France)

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(Bio)Electrochemical Systems (B)ESs use whole-cell biocatalysts to drive oxidation and reduction reactions at solid-state electrodes. Due to the separation between the oxidation and reduction reactions, a large range of applications is possible in the context of water and energy recovery. The most widespread application is presently the microbial fuel cell, which aims to generate power from wastewater. More recently microbial electrolysis cells have emerged. These have notably expanded the range of applications of (B)ESs, particularly towards bioproduction.

Calcium Abatement in Wastewater Systems While improved water efficiency decreases water usage, it also leads to increased ionic concentrations. For example in the pulp and paper industry, calcium accumulation causes expensive scaling. We are developing a bioelectrochemical system that generates caustic soda. This product is used for an up-stream calcium precipitation unit and on-site paper bleaching. This can help meet the demands of a smaller volume of process water without the economic and environmental cost of purchasing caustic soda.

Microbial Electrosynthesis Microbial electrosynthesis is a novel process in which microorganisms are using electricity as their energy source for synthesis reactions. Indeed, electrical current can drive microbial metabolism, instead of more conventionally organic substrate derived from crops. As a result, it is possible to produce biofuels and biochemicals starting from CO2 or substrate organics, and electricity. The electricity in turn can be derived from wastewater treatment, or a different sustainable source of electrical energy.

Microbial Ecology of Engineered Environments Engineered systems such as anaerobic digesters (ADs) and bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) perform a wide-range of functions, including wastewater clean-up, power delivery, and generation of useful products. Microbial communities are critical to the functioning of these systems but are poorly understood from a phylogenetic and a functional perspective. We are using a range of techniques including pyrotag sequencing, metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to link the genetic and taxonomic diversity to the overall community functionality.

Mediated Electron Transfer to Modify Fermentation Pathways Fermentation is a key biotechnology process extensively used to produce a wide range of potential products from primary substrates such as sugars and amino acids via anaerobic oxidation or electron neutral catabolic reactions. Notably, fermentations can be significantly affected by the redox conditions of the surrounding environment. This research project is focused on studying how an electrode can produce a shift in fermentation pathways towards more attractive end-products by inducing modifications on the redox environment using different redox mediators.

versatile process for the treatment of such recalcitrant pollutants from wastewater using the powerful oxidation and reduction capabilities in BES. The concept is that wastewater needs to be first treated at the abiotic or biotic cathode (reduction) to improve its biodegradability, followed by biological oxidation of the remaining products at the anode of the BES. One or both of the oxidation/reduction reactions in the two chambers of the BES can be catalysed by bacteria to help reduce over-potentials and power consumption. The electrons released from the oxidation step at the bioanode can be utilised to reduce the recalcitrant organic pollutants at the cathode, hence eliminating the need for any co-substrates.

Electrochemical Sulfide Removal from Sewers Sewer corrosion caused by hydrogen sulfide generation is a major issue in sewer management. Existing strategies are expensive, complex and often come with drawbacks such as the loss of organic matter. We propose a novel method, in which sulfide is removed electrochemically by means of in situ generated oxygen. Due to its ease of operation and lack of peripherals this electrochemical approach is expected to exhibit important advantages compared to existing technologies.

Sulfide Recovery from Wastewater An electrochemical process has been developed to recover sulfide from wastewater through a two-phase system, in which the anode and cathode are switched over periodically to collect a concentrated sulfide or polysulfide solution. In the first phase, sulfide is anodically oxidized and precipitated as elemental sulfur, which is then cathodically reduced and collected as a concentrated stream of sulfide or polysulfide in the second phase. Investigations are underway to apply this novel process to wastewater from a gelatin processing plant, in collaboration with Gelita Australia Pty Ltd.

Treatment of Reverse Osmosis Concentrates Electrochemical treatment appears an attractive option for the removal of trace contaminants from reverse osmosis concentrates (ROC). Key reasons for this are the high conductivity of the ROC (limiting energy requirement) and the replacement of oxidants by electrical current. We are investigating the influence of electrode material and operational strategy on the removal effectiveness, with a particular focus on decreasing the overall toxicity and increasing the biodegradability of the trace contaminants.

Ferric Sludge Recovery Ferric chloride (FeCl3) is commonly used in many treatment plants in order to improve the precipitation of phosphate in the water. This generates a sludge that not only has no significant value at the moment, but brings with it a high disposal cost and environmental footprint problems. The formed chemical sludge is potentially the source of valuable compounds such as iron and phosphate. A novel 2-stage process approach is being developed in which first, the phosphate is released in solution after the addition of a sulphide solution and second, an electrochemical reaction with oxidation of sulphide to sulphur on the anode enables the recovery of iron.

Bioelectrochemical Transformation and Degradation of Recalcitrant Organic Pollutants from Wastewater The removal of recalcitrant organic pollutants such as textile dyes, agro-chemicals or pharmaceuticals from wastewater is crucial for environmental and human health protection. The AWMC (B)ES group has developed an innovative and

The AWMC (B)ES Team 2010 Project Leaders Korneel Rabaey Jurg Keller

RenĂŠ Rozendal Gene Tyson

Researchers Yang Mu Paul Dennis Jelena Radjenovic Stephen Anderson

Stefano Freguia Mike Imelfort Eugena Li

PhD Students Arseto Bagastyo Angela Johnstone Kun Guo Suzanne Read Elena Mejia Likosova

(Bio)Electrochemical Systems

AWMC Annual Report 2010 15

16 AWMC Annual Report 2010

Greenhouse Gases

Climate change caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is one of the major challenges facing mankind today. Substantial reductions in GHG emissions are inevitable and an essential shared responsibility for all sectors.

Water and wastewater systems contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through both energy consumption (indirect emissions of CO2) and emissions of fugitive gases such as nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) (direct emissions). Methane and N2O are two potent greenhouse gases with global warming potentials 25 and 310 times, respectively, that of CO2 on a 100-year horizon. Their contributions to total net anthropogenic radiative forcing are very significant, at 30% and 10%, respectively. AWMC has been directly addressing issues of GHG in the water industry since 2007 and indirectly long before this. Our greenhouse gas research program focuses on the understanding and mitigation of CH4 and N2O emissions from wastewater collection and treatment systems, as well as from receiving waters and water storages. The current research includes fundamental research with ARC Discovery grants as well as applied research in collaboration with industry through ARC Linkage projects aimed at the understanding, quantification and mitigation of GHG emissions. Our industry partners in these projects are Water Corporation, Seqwater and Healthy Waterways. Recent and on-going projects 1. Nitrous oxide and methane emissions from South East Queensland waterways; 2. Understanding and mitigating nitrous oxide emission from wastewater treatment plants; 3. Understanding fugitive greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater systems for reliable accounting and effective mitigation; 4. Direct methane and nitrous oxide emissions from fullscale wastewater treatment systems; 5. Fugitive greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater systems;

Nitrous oxide (N2O) Production from Wastewater Treatment Systems The release of fugitive nitrous oxide from wastewater handling is a problem recognised globally. N2O is not only a potent greenhouse gas but also the single most important ozone depleting substance in the 21st century. Due to the highly dynamic conditions in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), N2O emission profiles are highly variable and difficult to measure. The AWMC GHG group is attempting to capture online emission profiles from full-scale WWTPs. This project is in collaboration with Water Corporation with the first online infrared N2O analyser in Australia installed in the Woodman Point WWTP, WA. An intensive sampling campaign aimed at establishing nitrogen balance and identifying conditions responsible for elevated N2O levels will be carried out in early 2011. The measurement program will then be rolled out to additional WWTPs. In parallel to field studies, comprehensive lab studies have been carried out to understand key nitrogen transformation reactions leading to N2O production. Lab scale reactors are being used to test specific process conditions such as pH, free nitrous acid, free ammonia and dissolved oxygen concentrations on enriched cultures. Key findings to date from these studies include: â&#x20AC;˘ pH has been shown to have a direct effect on the magnitude and mechanism of N2O production by nitrifying cultures. â&#x20AC;˘ pH indirectly affects the concentrations of free nitrous acid that has been demonstrated to be a true inhibitor of N2O reductase activity of denitrifying bacteria, eventually leading to N2O emission. Further development of fundamental understanding combined with field data will assist development of mitigation strategies to minimize N2O production and emission in wastewater treatment systems.

Greenhouse Gases

AWMC Annual Report 2010 17

Methane (CH4) Production from Wastewater Collection Systems

Fugitive Greenhouse Gas Emission from Receiving Waters

Recent field studies carried out both in Australia and elsewhere showed that a significant amount of CH4 is formed in sewers, particularly in rising mains. Significant CH4 production and emission from wastewater collection systems can be a major source of fugitive greenhouse gas. The research is undertaken through a multi-disciplinary systematic approach by integrating process engineering, microbiology, biochemistry, and mathematical modelling. Experimental investigations comprise macro-level studies on full-scale and laboratory-scale systems, to micro-level investigations on biofilm and sediments, and further to molecular-level studies on microbial communities and their activities.

Natural waterways can be a significant source of N2O and CH4. Microorganisms in sediments and in the water column can produce or consume N2O or CH4 while converting carbon and nitrogen compounds. However, there is currently a lack of quantitative data for CH4 and N2O emissions from South East Queensland waterways. The GHG team, in collaboration with Seqwater and Healthy Waterways, is monitoring the emissions of these gases from selected South East Queensland dams, estuaries and bays.

Progress to Date: • Field study conducted by the GHG team revealed that CH4 emission from sewers contributes significantly to GHG emissions from wastewater systems; • A mechanistic model characterising CH4 in rising main sewers has been developed by our research team; • Laboratory and field tests have shown that several sulfide control strategies can significantly reduce methane formation as a side-effect. The study of methane formation, emission and control in sewers is still in its early stages. In the future, the GHG team will work on the following knowledge and technology gaps: • Identification of key sources and sinks of methane in gravity sewers, particularly in sewer sediments; • Development of a model predicting the generation, oxidation and emissions of methane under different sewer conditions; • Development of cost-effective methane mitigation strategies.

Key findings to date from this project include: • Elevated N2O and CH4 concentrations have been found in two bays (Bramble Bay and Deception Bay) and in the Brisbane estuary, indicating all these sites are sources of greenhouse gases. The concentrations of both N2O and CH4 varied spatially at all sites measured. • Data obtained by this project and by a parallel investigation by Seqwater showed high CH4 concentrations in the deeper water layers of the two dams (Wivenhoe Dam and Little Nerang Dam). The mean CH4 flux from Wivenhoe Dam was at least two orders of magnitude lower than emissions from Little Nerang Dam. High spatial and temporal variability in CH4 emissions was found in both dams.

The AWMC Greenhouse Gas Team 2010 Project Leaders Zhiguo Yuan Paul Lant Jurg Keller Researchers Liu Ye Ursula Werner PhD Students Yingyu Law Ying Shi

Shihu Hu Joe Lane

Yuting Pan Ronald Musenze

18 AWMC Annual Report 2010

Microbial Ecology Microorganisms occur in every habitat on earth, and are responsible for many of the steps in the global water cycle. At the AWMC, the microbial ecology team is attempting to understand microorganisms at every level, from genes through to ecosystems. The research uses cutting-edge molecular tools, as well as more traditional microbiological techniques, to gain fundamental knowledge and understanding of these complex, yet fascinating processes.

What’s Important for Formation of Aerobic Granules? Aerobic granular activated sludge is an innovative technology the AWMC are adapting for the treatment of domestic wastewater. Aerobic granules have much superior settling capabilities in comparison to floccular sludge. This research is optimising the operation of sequencing batch reactors for aerobic granules. In an interesting discovery we find that a slow wastewater feed rate to the reactor causes loosely structured aggregates to form, rather than the desired densely packed granules. We hypothesise this due to differences in the microorganisms kinetic affinity for the wastewater substrates. Currently we are determining differences in the microbial communities and their function by analysing the protein and gene expression of these two granule types.

Evaluating Microbial Species and Function in Anaerobic Digestion Temperature phased anaerobic digestion (TPAD), is a microbial process that has great potential for treatment of biosolids due to its high energy recovery, lower sludge production, cost effectiveness and low environmental effect. This research, funded through the Environmental Biotechnology CRC, examines the microorganisms active in the thermal pretreatment stage of a two stage anaerobic digester, to provide key conceptual insight of this hydrolysisfermentation step. Two functionally different laboratory scale pretreatment reactors, one thermophilic (>50°C) and one mesophilic (35°C), were evaluated using 16S rRNA based molecular methods. Results indicate temperature had a significant positive correlation with the abundance of dominant ribotypes within the Thermotogeae and Firmicutes, and with enhanced hydrolytic performance. Analysis of microbial function, determined by protein detection (metaproteomics), illustrates the thermophilic sludge has a high abundance of extracellular proteins that are likely important for the enhanced hydrolytic performance of the pretreatment stage.

Molecular Characterisation of Microbial Communities Involved in Anaerobic Methane-Driven Denitrification Anaerobic methane-driven denitrification (MDD) is a microbial process that drives the oxidisation of methane to carbon dioxide coupled to the reduction of nitrate or nitrite to dinitrogen gas. There are many obvious industrial uses for this process, however, whilst the prevalence of MDD in the environment has not yet been fully evaluated, it has potentially important implications for both the global carbon and nitrogen cycles. To date, two key groups of microorganisms have been shown to be involved in this process, a bacterium Candidatus “Methylomirabilis oxyfera” and ANME-2D-like Archaea. While “M. oxyfera” has been extensively studied, including the recent sequencing of its genome, a detailed understanding of the ANME-like Archaea is lacking. We are currently sequencing the genome of the ANME-2D-like Archaea using a novel single cell genomic approach in order to gain greater insight into how this organism carries out MDD. Additionally, we are characterising the microbial communities in several bioreactors at the AWMC that have been operated to enrich for organisms capable of carrying out MDD to identify other important microbial players involved this process.

Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (EBPR) Bioreactors as a Model System for Understanding Phage-Host Dynamics Phage (bacterial and archaeal viruses) are ubiquitous in the environment and drive the dynamics and evolution of microbial communities through predation and horizontal gene transfer. The sheer diversity of phages in natural environments makes it difficult to study phage-host interactions at the community scale. The EBPR bioreactors dominated by Candidatus “Accumulibacter phosphatis” represent an ideal controlled engineered system to monitor phages-host interactions. Further, phage predation could be responsible for dramatic collapses in EBPR performance.

Microbial Ecology

AWMC Annual Report 2010 19

Electron micrograph of phage from an EBPR bioreactor

To analyse the mechanisms of EBPR phage-bacteria interactions we are using metagenomics to sequence whole phage communities in a lab-scale EBPR reactor. In combination with this we are using PCR to study the activity of host defence genes against phage. We have successfully developed techniques to extract and sequence the DNA of phage communities and accurately quantify viral numbers using flow cytometry. Analysis of metagenomic data from an EBPR reactor has lead to our discovery of a novel mechanism in the phage-host arms race by which phage can potentially down-regulate essential defence genes of the host. Future work will focus on analysing, in depth, the temporal aspects of phage-host interactions in EBPR.

A New Research Partner at UQ: The Australian Centre for Ecogenomics (ACE) The Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, or ACE for short, is a new centre recently established in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biology as part of a strategic initiative to build capacity in microbial genomics at UQ. The AWMC is a major ACE research partner and has been centrally involved in its establishment. This collaboration is further cemented by the direct involvement of Gene Tyson as Deputy Director of the new centre and return of former AWMC postdoc, Prof Phil Hugenholtz, from the Joint Genome Institute in the US to be the ACE Director. ACE has three major research themes; environmental, host-associated and tree of life. An important component of the environmental theme is engineered systems and this is the focal point of AWMCACE research. A key collaboration with Prof Zhiguo Yuan and Dr Shihu Hu concerns the microbiology of anaerobic methane-driven denitrification (MDD). This collaboration has already resulted in the genome sequence of an MDD organism from an AWMC bioreactor revealing key metabolic underpinnings of this process. Further information about ACE including researchers and projects can be found at www.ecogenomic.org

We would like to thank the following funding agents and partners Australian Institute of Marine Sciences ARC Discovery and Linkage Grants CSIRO Department of Energy, USA Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research International Science Linkages (DIISR â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ISL) Environmental Biotechnology CRC Joint Genome Institute, USA Meat and Livestock Australia Melbourne Water Sydney Water Corporation Queensland State Government (Smart State Fellowships Program) University of Arizona, USA University of Newcastle University of New South Wales University of Sydney University of Tasmania University of Technology, Sydney Water Technologies Australia Water Corporation

The AWMC Microbial Ecology Team 2010 Phil Bond Florent Angly Paul Dennis Jeremy Barr Barry Cayford Hasina Pervin Connor Skennerton Kimber Kumbun Hui Jie Lim

Gene Tyson Fran Slater Mike Imelfort Lauren Bragg Angela Johnstone Natacha Juste-Poinapen Marieska Verawaty Mohamed (Fauzi) Haroon

20 AWMC Annual Report 2010

Sewer Corrosion & Odour Research (SCORe) Optimal management of sewer systems has been hindered by a limited understanding of several key in-sewer processes, and the lack of tools and reliable technologies to support strategic decisions and cost-effective sewer operation. The value of public assets is being significantly diminished as a result of corrosion problems, with the replacement of concrete sewer pipes costing hundreds of millions of dollars yearly in Australia. This research program is delivering highly valuable outcomes for the Australian water industry.

The generation of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has long been known to be a major cause of corrosion and odour problems in sewer systems. However odour and corrosion in sewers has often been taken as a fait accompli, with sewer vents being closed if odour problems occur and the odours being vented elsewhere in the system or at the inlet to the wastewater treatment plant. Development of fundamental scientific knowledge of sewer processes has been limited since the publication of the “Hydrogen Sulphide Control Manual” in 1989 which is still commonly used by industry for the prediction of sulfide generation in sewers. Basic knowledge gaps still exist in our fundamental understanding of odours and corrosion including the following: • Corrosion Processes & Control: The estimation of the corrosion rate and the life expectancy of pipes are very difficult to predict and are almost entirely based on empirical data about the past performance of pipes under similar conditions. • Gas Phase Technologies: It is difficult to quantify and characterise odours from sewers without relying purely on costly, problematic and time consuming human olfactometry systems. In addition, applications of odour abatement systems rely on empirical data with little fundamental understanding of the processes occurring for the removal of the odour. • Liquid Phase Technologies: A lack of understanding of the chemical and biochemical transformations that occur in wastewater and the impact of variables such as flow velocity, sediments, changes in wastewater composition. This makes it difficult to predict the impact of chemicals commonly used to control H2S in sewers such as O2, NO3-, Mg(OH)2, FeCl3, etc. Without closing these knowledge gaps it is not possible to optimise dosing systems for the control of odours in the liquid phase or to reliably predict the impact of dosing systems on the receiving wastewater treatment plants.

There has been heightened interest in the management of odour and corrosion in sewers in recent years for a number of reasons: 1. Sewer systems are being extended to fringe populations around the major cities with ever increasing size of the collection systems and greater dependency on the pumping of sewage and hence greater generation of sulfides in the system. 2. Water restrictions and demand management of water supplies is resulting in significantly lower flows and higher concentrations of COD, sulfates and other pollutants. This then produces longer retention times in rising mains and the quicker onset of anaerobic conditions which cause generation of more H2S and to potentially higher concentrations (due to higher sulfate and/or COD concentrations). 3. Warmer climates over the last decade which lowers the solubility of oxygen, encourages the more rapid depletion of the oxygen in the wastewater and stimulates the generation of H2S by the sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB). 4. Trade waste regulations have reduced the amount of heavy metals (and other pollutants) that are discharged to sewers, which has reduced the precipitation of metal sulfides in sewers. Precipitation of the heavy metal sulfide would reduce the H2S concentration in the sewage. In addition it is believed that the heavy metals also have a inhibitory effect on the microbes responsible for H2S production. The size of this problem is reflected in the broad support being provided to the SCORe Project by water utilities throughout Australia. There are 11 industry partners and 11 research partners. The project started in late 2008 and will run for five years with a total budget of approximately $20 million.

Sewer Research

AWMC Annual Report 2010 21

This project brings together the scientific knowledge of world-leading researchers and the vast amount of practical expertise available in the Australian utilities, which will ensure practical outcomes based on fundamental scientific knowledge. The skills and expertise possessed by the research providers and industry partners are very diverse yet complementary, enabling the integration of process engineering, mathematical modelling, environmental chemistry, material science and microbiology, together with operational experience, in the search for solutions. The project comprises four themes under which ten subprojects are managed: • Theme 1 - Understanding and predicting corrosion processes • Theme 2 - Gas phase technologies • Theme 3 - Liquid phase technologies, and • Theme 4 - Decision support and knowledge management Six of the ten subprojects are being carried out by the AWMC as well as the overall project leadership, project management and organisational responsibility. Despite being operational for only two years, outcomes from the SCORe project are already having a major influence on industry partner practices and decisions which are providing significant financial benefits. Some examples include: • Testing of some odour control chemicals has been postponed by industry partners based on outcomes from laboratory and field testing of the project. • Control strategies developed by AWMC are being applied for optimising the dosing of proven chemicals for odour and corrosion control. • The SeweX model is now being used by several industry partners to predict and manage odour and corrosion in their sewerage collection systems.

We would like to acknowledge all of our partners in this research program: Allconnex Water Barwon Regional Water Corporation CH2M Hill Australia Curtin University of Technology Hunter Water Corporation Melbourne Water Corporation South East Water Limited South Australian Water Corporation Sydney Water Corporation The University of Newcastle The University of New South Wales The University of Sydney United Water International (will be Veolia Water Australia after 1/6/11) Water Corporation Water Quality Research Australia (WQRA)

The AWMC Sewer Team 2010 Concrete Corrosion Testing in Laboratory Phil Bond Jurg Keller Antony Joseph Hoai Tran Barry Cayford Optimising Dosing of Chemicals Zhiguo Yuan Ramon Ganigué Pagès Guangming Jiang Jindong Chen Testing of Emerging Chemicals Gatut Sudarjanto Zhiguo Yuan Oriol Gutierrez Guangming Jiang Guo Ren Lishan Zhang Electrochemical Control of Sulfide Jurg Keller Korneel Rabaey René Rozendal Ilje Pikaar Eugena Li Model-based Decision Support Keshab Sharma Zhiguo Yuan Evren Tugtas Gatut Sudarjanto Jing Sun Yeting Niu Knowledge Management Ray Rootsey

22 AWMC Annual Report 2010

Bioproducts & Nutrient Removal The AWMC has built a strong reputation in nutrient removal technologies over the last 14 years in the field. However, recent changes in the industry have given us new challenges including reducing costs, smaller treatment plants, and adding benefits to the treatment of wastewater, both domestic and industrial. This research program has met these challenges head-on, leading the world in the emergent technology of aerobic granulation systems and harnessing the potential bioproducts from wastewater.

Next Generation Bioplastics PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate) bioplastics are recognised as outstanding candidates to replace conventional plastics. Their mechanical properties are industrially relevant, they are produced from renewable resources, and they are truly biodegradable. Furthermore, our recent work shows that the PHA bioplastics synthesis has the capacity to utilise cheap and renewable carbon sources such as organic wastes, which are economically competitive with petroleum based alternatives. We are teaming up with AnoxKaldnes Biopolymer of Sweden and UQâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Centre for High Performance Polymers for an ARC funded project on using mixed microbial cultures to engineer commercial grade PHA. The aim is to advance mixed culture PHA technology by integrating state-of-the-art polymer characterisation and processing with mixed culture biopolymer production. Our team has already successfully accumulated PHA in biomass harvested from wastewater treatment plants. We have extracted PHA from within the biomass, and have found that thermal properties and molecular weight are as desirable as those produced in mixed cultures. In the next phase of research we will be assessing the mechanical properties and rheology of our PHA, with the view of identifying markets for our bioplastic commodity.

Nutrient Recovery Helping to Improve the Sustainability of the Australian Agriculture Sector Australia is one of the food bowls of the world, exporting approximately 50% of food produced nationally. We are also recognised as having some of the most sustainable and best managed agricultural sectors in the world. However, there are a number of issues over sustainability and pricing of mineral nutrients. Nitrogen is produced from fossil derived natural gas, while phosphate is mined from non-renewable resources. Supply issues have seen dramatic fluctuations in pricing over the last five years, particularly for phosphates. This is the driver for the Grains Research and Development Corporation to find new, sustainable sources of nutrients.

They have funded research at the AWMC to investigate recovery of nitrogen and phosphorous from waste streams. We have determined that up to 20% of the national phosphorous and nitrogen market could be supplied by recovering from waste streams, and that farm scale technology would both have a relatively rapid payback, as well as providing benefits such as renewable energy. This research is helping to provide new revenue streams to the agricultural sector, reduce environmental and greenhouse gas impact, and generate new sources for fertiliser.

Pandemic Concentrations of Pharmaceuticals in Wastewater: Effects on Nutrient Removal The recent H1N1 2009 influenza pandemic saw many people treated with antivirals and antibiotics. High proportions of both classes of drugs are excreted into wastewater and will eventually end up in treatment plants. There has been international concern that unprecedented levels of these pharmaceuticals in wastewater during a pandemic could have adverse effects on the bacteria in nutrient removal systems, causing decreased function. Additionally, downstream effects on aquatic life in receiving waters are unknown. Investigations have to date been mostly limited to modelling and pure culture studies. We conducted the first assessment of the effects of pandemic-scale pharmaceutical doses on nutrient removal reactors. A laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactor was operated as an aerobic granular sludge for enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR). There was little removal of antiviral compounds by the sludge, demonstrating the potential for antiviral compound contamination of receiving waters. We also recorded disruption to granule structure, to EBPR and nitrification, and to bacterial communities following high doses of antivirals and antibiotics. These findings indicate the risks of pandemic concentrations of pharmaceuticals to nutrient removal processes and highlight the need for further research. Our future investigations will look further at the mechanisms of the effects of these pharmaceuticals on bacteria responsible for nutrient removal, particularly focusing on biofilm disruption.

AWMC Annual Report 2010 23

Steven Pratt Shelley Brown Monica Arcos

Paul Lant Philip Keymer

The AWMC Nutrient Removal Team 2010 Maite Pijuan Phil Bond Chirag Mehta Jeremy Barr

Fran Slater Damien Batstone Thomas Seviour

Algae Derived Biofuels The depletion of oil reserves and a quest for independence from fossil fuels are driving the search for alternative fuel sources. Biofuels from microalgae is an exciting and viable option. The direct advantages of algae-derived biofuels over conventional biofuels are a very high yield per hectare and no competition for arable land. Still, algae production currently relies on the availability of low cost synthetic fertilisers. At the AWMC we are aiming to address this by investigating the potential for using waste streams as an economic and sustainable nutrient supply for algal biofuels. Our research focus is two-fold. Firstly we are aiming to produce biogas by digesting algae grown on wastewater, and ultimately boost biogas yields by pre-treating algal biomass prior to processing. We have already shown that pre-treatment can lead to a 30% increase in biogas production. Secondly, we are developing knowledge on microbial communities in open algal systems, with the view to understanding the interactions between key populations. The outcomes will be significant in terms of tracking nitrogen and phosphorus utilisation in algal ponds when wastewater is used as the nutrient supply.

Bioproducts & Nutrient Removal

The AWMC Bioproducts Team 2010

24 AWMC Annual Report 2010

Anaerobic Technologies The anaerobic technology group works across the product development cycles, from investigation of basic relationships between microbes to construction of large demonstration plants. The knowledge developed in the laboratory feeds directly into our full-scale implementation and consulting work. Linkages are strong with industry, and we have large research projects across most industrial sectors, including energy, agriculture, waste/wastewater treatment, and industrial biotechnology.

Anaerobic Technology Group Overview

Waste-to-Energy Program

Anaerobic technology research is an established program within the AWMC, we think of anaerobic biotechnologies as resource recovery technology, rather than solely waste treatment processing. Anaerobic processes handle concentrated organic streams without the need for expensive aeration operations. Methane rich biogas produced during anaerobic stabilisation is a source of green, renewable energy. As a result, anaerobic biotechnologies can generate energy rather than consuming it. In addition anaerobic stabilisation can mobilise valuable nutrients stored in organic materials with excellent fertiliser potential. The combination of these factors ensures anaerobic biotechnology has a strong future within an environmentally sustainable Australia.

Our waste-to-energy program has continued to develop in recent years. The small medium biosolids stabilisation project is using temperature phased anaerobic digestion (TPAD) to achieve similar environmental and financial benefits of advanced large scale anaerobic treatment technologies with much lower capital investment. Until now advanced anaerobic digestion technologies have required huge capital investments that put them beyond the reach of many small to medium producers.

Anaerobic technologies may be implemented at a broad range of technology levels in a range of industries. Therefore, the AWMC has assembled a diverse research team including over 15 academic staff, process engineers, molecular scientists and higher degree research students. We work across the product development cycles, from investigation of basic relationships between microbes to construction of large demonstration plants. The knowledge we develop in the laboratory feeds directly into our full-scale implementation and consulting work. Linkages are strong with industry, and we have large research projects across most industrial sectors, including energy, agriculture, waste/wastewater treatment and industrial biotechnology. Here we showcase a number of projects that contribute to these areas. In 2009, motivated by fluctuations in fertiliser prices, and practical agronomic advantages of natural fertilisers, the anaerobic group broadened its research program to include nutrient capture and recovery processes. Supported by the Grains Research and Development Corporation, AWMC is assessing the use of local materials for production of a high-value organically derived mineral fertiliser. This will be a direct replacement for existing fertiliser sources, with a fraction of the environmental footprint, and with a better agronomic profile.

TPAD combines a relatively short thermo-biological pre-treatment with conventional anaerobic stabilisation. The pre-treatment stage stimulates the early stages of digestion resulting in significant improvements in overall stabilisation rates. These improvements in rate increase the loading rates through anaerobic processes while reducing the size and capital costs of process vessels. The sanitised final biosolid produced with elevated temperature during the pre-treatment step is a higher quality than biosolid achieved from conventional digestion and can be reused as a fertiliser product which is superior to chemical fertilisers in terms of environmental impact, cost, and plant nutrition. TPAD utilises simple infrastructure and is highly flexible for application to food processing residues, domestic sludge treatment from large municipalities to smaller communities down to 10,000 persons and other solid organic wastes. Expanding on the success of the small-medium scale biosolids project, AWMC researchers are now investigating short term thermo-biological reactors as a dedicated high rate anaerobic stabilisation technique. The development of high rate processes applicable to solids digestion is an exciting prospect. Our waste-to-energy projects are supported by the Environmental Biotechnology Cooperative Research Centre (EBCRC), the Queensland State Government (Smart State RIPP Scheme), Meat and Livestock Australia Limited (MLA), the Australian Meat Processor Corporation (AMPC), and Australian Pork Limited (APL) within the Methane to Markets Scheme.

Anaerobic Technologies

AWMC Annual Report 2010 25

Small-Medium Scale Demonstration Facility

Giving Bugs a Close Shave

With the help of our industry partners, we are putting our research to the test. The small-medium scale biosolids demonstration plant was commissioned in 2010. Located at a red meat processing facility in South East Queensland the plant is designed to treat approximately five wet tonnes of organic waste per day. The demonstration plant is capable of processing both solid waste and wastewater streams onsite at the host plant. Biogas from the plant is used to fire an industrial water heater capable of producing over 100 MJ/hr. We are now looking at gas engines to generate electricity from the biogas.

A new research project is looking at how microbes function in naturally forming bio-granules. Granular biomass forms naturally in high-rate industrial anaerobic treatment systems. It is highly important for treatment systems such as used at Fosterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Brewery in Yatala, and Trisco Foods in Carole Park, both of whom have strong links to the AWMC. Yang (Kenn) Lu, an EBCRC PhD student at the AWMC is looking at a primary component in these granules, the microbes which break down complex organics. He has found that they mainly exist on the surface of the granule, and is now using new techniques to progressively shear layers from the granule, and analyse these separately from the parent granule. While the immediate goal is investigation of the structure of the granules, in the future we want to enhance their capability. This will allow us to further improve existing treatment systems, while expanding their application to more difficult wastewaters such as meat processing, intensive agriculture, and even domestic sewage, offering more sustainable, and lower cost wastewater treatment. The project is funded by the Environmental Biotechnology CRC. In the initial UQ-EBCRC project, we found microbes that were much better at breaking down the organic materials in sewage sludge. Now we want to make these microbes work in advanced, high-rate applications. This is a truly new technology that offers compelling advantages against existing competitors.

Applying Computer Game Theory to MicrobeMicrobe Interactions Classical biological process modelling is effective but unsatisfying. We represent microbes the same way we represent chemicals such as water or sugars. That is, they are a bulk property that can increase or decrease in concentration or potency. The reality is vastly different, and as we know, microbes form biofilms, interact, predate on each other, and in other ways compete for, and share food, space, and nutrients. To properly represent this in models, we need to consider not only the microbes as individuals, but other characteristics such as size, shape, and secondary filamentous growth and motility. This is being addressed by a microbe-lagrangian modelling project, or modelling microbes as individuals. This not only considers chemical characteristics of the microbes, but also uses basic physics to describe how they interact on a physical level. For concepts such as collision detection and response, concepts from computer game programming are used, and we are finding that basic structural components such as microbe elasticity and strength can have a profound impact on the appearance of a simulated biofilm. In fact, some very complex biofilm characteristic can be explained by basic physics rules. The next phase will allow us to include cell physical structures such as bound proteins, and modelling of chemical interactions between cells.

The AWMC Anaerobic Technologies Team 2010 Damien Batstone Paul Jensen Fran Slater Chirag Mehta Huoqing Ge Yang (Kenn) Lu Dang Ho Preethi Gopalan

Korneel Rabaey Phil Bond Bernardino Virdis Chris Carney Natacha Juste-Poinapen Hasina Pervin Zuhaida Mohd Zaki

26 AWMC Annual Report 2010

The AWMC Team

AWMC Advisory Board

Adjunct & Honorary Appointments

Professor Graham Schaffer, Chair Executive Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology, The University of Queensland

Adjunct Professor Jon Black CEO of Unity Water

Adjunct Professor Shaun Cox Managing Director, South East Water Dr David Garman Executive Director, Environmental Biotechnology CRC Professor Peter Gray Director, Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland Dr Hung Nguyen Managing Director, MCQ Management Mr Mark Pascoe Chief Executive, International Water Centre AWMC Representation from Professor Jurg Keller, Professor Zhiguo Yuan and Dr Veronica Futo (COO)

Adjunct Professor G. Bill Capati Manager - Infrastructure Planning, Allconnex Water Adjunct Professor Shaun Cox Managing Director, South East Water Adjunct Senior Lecturer Ben Fawcett Visiting Lecturer for the International Water Centre Adjunct Professor Charles Foxall HSE Manager - CUB Yatala Brewery Adjunct Professor Ken Hartley Principal, Ken Hartley Pty Ltd Adjunct Professor Ian Law Owner and Director of IBL Solutions Adjunct Research Fellow Christoph Ort Researcher, Urban Water Management, EAWAG, Switzerland Honorary Professor David Richardson Dean, Faculty of Science, University of East Anglia, UK Honorary Professor Willy Verstraete Head of the Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology, Ghent University, Belgium Adjunct Professor Richard Went Strategic Group Manager Product and Asset Management, Allconnex Water Honorary Professor Peter Wilderer Director, Institute for Advanced Studies on Sustainability, Germany

AWMC Annual Report 2010 27

Director Prof Jurg Keller • Biochemical and environmental engineering • Environmental biotechnology

Dr Phil Bond • Wastewater and environmental microbiology • Microbial community function analyses

Deputy Director Prof Zhiguo Yuan • Biological nutrient removal • Process modelling and control • Sewer management • GHG Mitigation

Dr Wolfgang Gernjak • Water recycling • Membrane fouling • Advanced oxidation processes • Solar energy for water mining

Prof Paul Lant • Biological wastewater treatment • Wastewater and greenhouse gas interactions • Sustainable urban water systems

Dr Korneel Rabaey • Microbial ecology • Microbial fuel cells • (Bio)electrochemical systems

A/Prof Damien Batstone • Anaerobic digestion • Instrumentation, modelling, and control • Industrial wastewater treatment

Dr Gene Tyson • Microbial ecology • Metagenomic and transcriptomic approaches for microbial community characterisation • Diversity and evolution

Academic Support & Administration

Dr Veronica Futo Chief Operating Officer

Dr Sandra Hall Communications and Training Manager

Mrs Wendy Mahon Centre Administrator

Mr Ray Rootsey SCORe Project Manager

Mrs Vivienne Clayton Administration Assistant

Miss Ana Esposo Personnel and Finance Officer

Mrs Hong Lee Administration Assistant

Ms Jessica Nott Project Officer - RHD Support & Communications (started May)

AWMC Team

Academic Staff

28 AWMC Annual Report 2010

Analytical Research

Dr Beatrice Keller-Lehmann

AWMC Lab Manager Environmental and water analysis techniques

Ms Susan Cooke

Scientific Officer (started May)

Ms Kar Man Leung

Ms Jianguang Li

Laboratory Assistant Molecular biology analysis (until April)

Laboratory Assistant

Technical Services

Mr Ampon Chumpia

Technical Support Officer

Mrs Alyshia Lyons

PC2 Lab Manager (started December)

Research Team

Mr Stephen Anderson

Dr Florent Angly

Dr Rupak Aryal

Dr Shelley Brown

Mr Chris Carney

Dr Andrew Cook

Dr Kristell Le Corre

Dr Paul Dennis

Dr Bogdan Donose

Dr Maria José Farré

Ms Shoshana Fogelman

Dr Stefano Freguia Research Fellow

Research Assistant Bioelectrochemical systems

Research Assistant Anaerobic technologies

Research Fellow Water recycling (started April)

Dr Ramon Ganigué Pagès Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Sewer systems (started March)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Microbial ecology

Research Fellow Microbial ecology (until June)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Purified recycled water

Ms Christy Grobbler Research Assistant

Anaerobic technologies

Research Fellow Stormwater and health risk (started October)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Purified recycled water (started June)

Research Officer Intelligent sensors

Dr Oriol Gutierrez Research Fellow

Odour control in sewer systems (until June)

Research Fellow Electrochemistry

Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Bio)Electrochemical systems (started September)

(Bio)electrochemical systems (started September)

Ms Dang Ho

Research Assistant Anaerobic technologies (until August)

AWMC Annual Report 2010 29

Dr Shihu Hu

Mr Mike Imelfort

Dr Paul Jensen

Dr Guangming Jiang

Dr Anthony Joseph

Mr Joe Lane

Dr Eugena Li

Dr Chirag Mehta

Dr Yang Mu

Dr Christoph Ort

Dr Marc Pidou

Dr Maite Pijuan

Dr Steven Pratt

Dr Jelena Radjenovic

Dr Julien Reungoat

Dr RenĂŠ Rozendal

Dr Keshab Sharma

Dr Fran Slater

Dr Gatut Sudarjanto

Dr A. Evren Tugtas

Dr Bernardino Virdis

Mr Shane Watts

Dr Ursula Werner

Dr Liu Ye

Research Officer Bioinformatics (started August)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Anaerobic technologies

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Odour control in sewer systems (started November)

AWMC Team

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Greenhouse gases

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Corrosion control in sewer systems

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Bioelectrochemical systems

Research Fellow Environmental biotechnology

Research Fellow Process modelling

Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Bio)electrochemical systems (started March)

Research Scientist Life cycle assessment

Research Fellow Purified recycled water (until September)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Purified recycled water

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Microbial ecology

Senior Research Officer Aerobic granular systems

Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Bio)electrochemical systems (started May)

Research Fellow Water recycling (started March)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Water reuse technologies

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Odour control in sewer systems

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Microbial biotransformations

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Intelligent sensors

Research Fellow Aerobic granular systems (until June)

Research Fellow (Bio)Electrochemical systems

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Sewer modelling (until July)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow N2O Emissions (started March)

30 AWMC Annual Report 2010

Casual Staff Mr Justice Baiano

Mr Guangming Jiang

Mr Yang (Kenn) Lu

Mr Simon Tannock

Lab Manager, May - December

Research Assistant, January - August

Lab Assistant, January - December

Lab Assistant, March - June

Mr Joe Lane

Mr Maxime Rattier

Research Scientist, January - July

Research Assistant, March - July

Research Assistant, July - November

Dr Bronwyn Laycock

Ms Suzanne Read

Mr Lishan Zhang

Research Scientist, January - February

Lab Assistant, February - April

Research Assistant, January - April

Mr David De Haas

Ms Laurence Ledrut

Project Researcher, January - December

Research Assistant, March - September

Mrs Diana Dragisic Administrator, November - December

Mr Jeff Foley

Research Scientist, March - July

Mr Subash Sukumar

Ms Hoai Tran

Lab Assistant, November - December

Postgraduate Students Monica Arcos Hernandez, PhD Student

Katrin Doederer, PhD Student

Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates

Assessment of disinfection by-products during the disinfection of water and their fate across reverse osmosis membranes

Advisors: Prof Paul Lant and Dr Steven Pratt

Advisors: Dr Wolfgang Gernjak and Dr Maria José Farré

Chrystelle Ayache, Cotutelle PhD Student

Emmanuelle Filloux, Cotutelle PhD Student

Assessment of the impact of biological pre-treatment on UF and RO fouling and micropollutants rejection

Performance and interest of coupling low and high pressure membrane filtration processes for the re-use of urban wastewater

Advisors: Dr Wolfgang Gernjak and Prof Jurg Keller

Advisors: Prof Jurg Keller, Dr Wolfgang Gernjak and Dr Jean-Philippe Croue (KAUST)

Arseto Bagastyo, PhD Student

Huoqing Ge, PhD Student – EBCRC

Electro-oxidative treatment of reverse osmosis concentrates

Small-medium scale organic solids stabilisation

Advisors: Dr Korneel Rabaey, Dr Jelena Radjenovic, Dr René Rozendal, and A/Prof Damien Batstone

Jeremy Barr, PhD Student - EBCRC (submitted December)

Fundamental microbial investigations into extracellular polymeric substances from aerobic granular sludge Advisors: Dr Phil Bond and Dr Gene Tyson

Advisors: A/Prof Damien Batstone, Dr Paul Jensen and Dr Phil Bond

Preethi Gopalan, PhD Student Least cost applications of anaerobic digestion to livestock wastes Advisor: A/Prof Damien Batstone and Dr Paul Jensen

Lauren Bragg, PhD Student – CSIRO

Kun Guo, PhD Student

Development of statistical and computational methods for the analysis of metagenomic sequence data

Biofuels production from bioelectrochemical systems

Advisors: Dr Gene Tyson, Prof Mark Morrison (CSIRO) and Dr Glenn Stone (CSIRO)

Advisors: Dr Korneel Rabaey and Dr René Rozendal

Barry Cayford, PhD Student

Mohamed (Fauzi) Haroon, PhD Student

Investigation of microbial biofilms responsible for sewer corrosion

Exploring novel microorganisms performing methane driven denitrification

Advisors: Dr Phil Bond, Prof Jurg Keller and Dr Gene Tyson

Advisors: Dr Gene Tyson and Prof Phil Hugenholtz

AWMC Annual Report 2010 31

Dang Ho, PhD Student

Ying Yu Law, PhD Student

High-rate methanogenesis Advisors: A/Prof Damien Batstone and Dr Paul Jensen

Understanding fugitive greenhouse gas emission from wastewater systems for reliable accounting and effective mitigation

Shihu Hu, PhD Student

Yang (Kenn) Lu, PhD Student

Enrichment and understanding of denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidation (DAMO) organisms Advisors: Prof Zhiguo Yuan, Prof Paul Lant, and Dr Raymond Zeng (USTC)

Guangming Jiang, PhD Student (completed November)

Metabolisms of sulfate-reducing bacteria and methanogens in sewers under oxic and anoxic conditions Advisors: Prof Zhiguo Yuan, Prof Jurg Keller and Dr Keshab Sharma

Characterisation and modification of fermentation microbial in anaerobic granules Advisors: A/Prof Damien Batstone, Dr Fran Slater

Elena Mejia Likosova, PhD Student Biological activated carbon filtration as pretreatment for membrane filtration of secondary effluent Advisors: Dr Wolfgang Gernjak and Prof Jurg Keller

Angela Johnstone, PhD Student

Rhiannon Mondav, PhD Student

Extracellular electron transfer in engineered environments - a genomic and proteomic approach

Melting permafrost microbial communities and methane flux

Advisors: Dr Korneel Rabaey and Dr Phil Bond

Advisors: Dr Gene Tyson and Prof Phil Hugenholtz

Natacha Juste-Poinapen, PhD Student

Ronald Musenze, PhD Student

Microbiology and genetics of interspecies electron transfer

Fugitive greenhouse gas emissions from South East Queensland waterways

Advisors: A/Prof Damien Batstone, Dr Korneel Rabaey, Dr Phil Bond and Dr Bernardino Virdis

Advisors: Prof Zhiguo Yuan, Dr Ursula Werner and Mr James Udy (Seqwater)

Steven Kenway, PhD Student

Yeting Niu, PhD Student

Urban metabolism and the water energy nexus Advisors: Prof Paul Lant and Prof Anthony Priestley (CSIRO)

(withdrawn July)

Improvement of the modelling of sulfide formation in rising main Advisors: Dr Keshab Sharma and Prof Zhiguo Yuan

Philip Keymer, PhD Student

Yuting Pan, PhD Student

Understanding nutrient transformations for algal biodiesel production in wastewater fed systems

Understanding and mitigating nitrous oxide emission from wastewater treatment plants

Advisors: Prof Paul Lant and Dr Steven Pratt

Advisors: Prof Zhiguo Yuan, Dr Liu Ye and Dr Maite Pijuan

Joe Lane, PhD Student

Hasina Pervin, PhD Student â&#x20AC;&#x201C; EBCRC

Applying LCA to urban water systems planning

Microbial community and function analysis during optimisation of small to medium scale organic solid stabilisation

Advisors: Prof Paul Lant and Dr Steven Pratt

Advisors: Dr Phil Bond, Dr Gene Tyson and A/Prof Damien Batstone

AWMC Team

(completed June)

Advisors: Prof Zhiguo Yuan, Dr Katie De Jong (SKM) and Prof Paul Lant

32 AWMC Annual Report 2010

Ilje Pikaar, PhD Student

Connor Skennerton, PhD Student

Electrochemical abatement of sulfide

Ecology and Evolution of phage-host interactions in a model ecosystem

Advisors: Dr Korneel Rabaey, Dr René Rozendal and Prof Jurg Keller

Advisors: Dr Gene Tyson and Prof Phil Hugenholtz

Zuhaida Mohd Zaki, PhD Student

Jing Sun, PhD Student

Regulation of mixed culture fermentation

Understanding nitrous oxide emissions from South East Queensland waterways

Advisors: A/Prof Damien Batstone and Dr Steven Pratt

Maxime Rattier, PhD Student Biological activated carbon filtration for tertiary treatment of wastewater Advisors: Dr Wolfgang Gernjak, Dr Julien Reungoat and Prof Jurg Keller

Suzanne Read, PhD Student (submitted April)

Microbial ecology of extracellular electron transfer (EET) Advisors: Dr Korneel Rabaey, Dr Philip Bond and Prof Jurg Keller

Advisors: Prof Zhiguo Yuan and Dr Shihu Hu

Hoai Tran, PhD Student (withdrawn July)

Optimal management of corrosion and odour problems in sewer systems Advisors: Prof Jurg Keller, Dr Phil Bond and Dr Antony Joseph

Marieska Verawaty, PhD Student – EBCRC A novel aerobic granular sludge for domestic wastewater treatment system Advisors: Dr Phil Bond, Prof Zhiguo Yuan and Dr Maite Pijuan

Thomas Seviour, PhD Student - EBCRC

Bernardino Virdis, PhD Student

Macromolecular associations in aerobic granular sludge derived EPS

Nitrogen removal in bioelectrochemical systems

(submitted December)

Advisors: Prof Zhiguo Yuan, Dr Maite Pijuan and Prof Jurg Keller

(completed March)

Advisors: Prof Jurg Keller, Dr Korneel Rabaey, Prof Zhiguo Yuan and Dr René Rozendal

Ying Shi, PhD Student

Qilin Wang, PhD Student

Understanding fugitive greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater systems for reliable accounting and effective mitigation

The investigation for methane formation, emissions and mitigation from wastewater

Advisors: Prof Zhiguo Yuan and Dr Shihu Hu

Advisor: Prof Zhiguo Yuan

Undergraduate & Coursework Students Reuben Ashwin Durairatnam - Completed November

Master of Biotechnology

Assessment of NDMA formation potential of organic precursors during advancement oxidation processes Advisor: Dr Wolfgang Gernjak

Kimber Kumbun - Completed November Bachelor of Biotechnology

Chemotactic behaviour of freshwater microorganisms to environmental contaminants Advisor: Dr Gene Tyson

Laurence Ledrut - Completed July

Hui Jie Lim - Completed July

Subash Sukumar

Bachelor of Biotechnology

Master of Biotechnology

Dynamics of microbial communities during anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge

Assessing the impact of the disinfectants on the polymer chemistry of thin film composite reverse osmosis membranes

Advisor: Dr Phil Bond

Hui-Wen Lin - Completed November Master of Biotechnology

Electrosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide at carbon gas diffusion electrodes and a bioelectrochemical study of electrochemically active microorganisms under the presence of hydrogen peroxide Advisors: Dr Korneel Rabaey and Dr René Rozendal

Advisors: Dr Bogdan Donose and Dr Wolfgang Gernjak

Alexander Wise - Completed November Bachelor of Biotechnology (Hon)

Electricity Driven production of 1,3-propanediol by mixed populations Advisors: Dr Korneel Rabaey and Dr Gene Tyson

Kai Zhang - Completed November

Master of Engineering

Jianmin Pei - Completed November

Master of Science (coursework)

Phosphate removal from iron phosphate sludge

Master of Biotechnology

M-CRISPR Finder Tool (M-CFT): a bioinformatical tool for finding clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (CRISPR) in metagenomic data

Advisors: Prof Jurg Keller and Dr René Rozendal

The effect of COD /S ratio on methane production and sulfate reduction in sewers Advisor: Dr A. Evren Tugtas

Advisor: Dr Gene Tyson

AWMC Annual Report 2010 33

AWMC Team

“The AWMC is an excellent place to meet and work with dynamic world class researchers. The enthusiasm in joining fundamental and applied science, plus for me, enjoying working on improved water management solutions, was the reasons in coming to work here on sabbatical.” - Adriano Joss

International Visiting Students

International Visiting Academics Dr Ricardo Bello-Mendoza

Dr Bruce Logan

Dr August Bonmati Blasi

Dr Juqing Lou

El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Mexico, March 09 – February 10 GIRO CT, Institute of research and food industry, Spain, November 09 – April 10

Dr Claire Dumas

INRA, French National Institute for Agriculture Research, France, October - December

Prof Urs von Gunten

Department for Water Resources and Drinking Water Eawag Switzerland, April

Dr Christof Holliger

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland, January - August

Dr Adriano Joss

Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Switzerland, August 10 - August 11

Dr Dong-Jin Kim

Hallym University, Republic of Korea, January - December

Dr Robbert Kleerebezem

Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, November - December

Penn State University, USA, March - April Zhejiang Gongshang University, China, October 10 - October 11

Dr Peili Lu

Chongqing University, China PR, June 09 – June 10

Dr Markus Röhricht

University of Applied Sciences, Giessen-Friedberg, Germany, October 09 – February 10

Dr Virginie Rossard

INRA, French National Institute for Agriculture Research, France, September - December

Dr David Sedlak

University of California, Berkeley CA USA, January - March

Dr Matthew Sullivan

University of Arizona, USA, June - July

Dr Xinfeng Xiao

Shandong University of Science and Technology, China, August 10 - August 11

Dr Qingxiang Yang

Henan Normal University China, China PR, December 09 - February 10

International Visiting Students Ms Freja Aasted

Ms Isabelle Pereira

Ms Eva Andresen

Mr David Probant

Mr Francois-Xavier Argaud

Ms Marie-Laure Pype

Ms Alinne Castro

Mr Yan Rafrafi

Aalborg University, Denmark, July - December Aalborg University, Denmark, July 10 - February 11 University Joseph Fourier, France, May - September University of Brazil, Brazil, June

Mr Jindong Chen

Jiangnan University, China, October 10 - March 12

Ms Xin Mei Guo

INRA, French National Institute for Agriculture Research, France March - May

Mr Florian Martin

University of Applied Sciences Giessen, Germany October 10 - February 11

Ms Liliana Montaño

National Autonomus University of Mexico, April - July

Ms Julia Mueller

The Ohio State University, USA, November - December

Agro Paris Tech, France, March - August University of Applied Sciences, Bremen, Germany, January - June University de Montpellier, France, June 10 - February 11 INRA, French National Institute for Agriculture Research, France September - December

Mr Pengzhe Sui

Kyoto University, Japan, November 10 - March 11

Dr Yiu Fai (Chris) Tsang

Homg Kong Institute of Vocational Education (Chi Wan), China PR November 09 - May 10

Mr Tan Quach

TU Delft, Faculty Civil Engineering, Netherlands September 10 - February 11

Ms Mi Zhou

Dalian University of Technology, China, September 10 - August 11

34 AWMC Annual Report 2010

Financial Report Income for 2010 University Income University Allocation (Postgraduate Supervision plus Research Quantum) $ 354,203 Postgraduate Tuition Fee Income $ 97,315 Major Equipment and Infrastructure Grant $ 169,000 UQ Research Start Up Fund $ 25,206 UQ Early Career Research Grants $ 55,000 UQ External Support Enabling Grants $ 1,925 Other Internal Income $ 146,754 $ 849,403 Salary Support UQ Salary Support and Teaching Income $ 801,042 Water Recycling Research Program (UQ Strategic Support) $ 150,000 Environmental Biotechnology CRC Project Staff $ 58,304 ARC Project and Smart State Fellowships $ 400,358 Industry Partner Fellowship Support $ 16,000 $ 1,425,704 Scholarship Support UQ Scholarships Support $ 7,417 Commonwealth Scholarships - APA/APAI/ARC $ 219,829 Environmental Biotechnology CRC Scholarships $ 125,204 Smart State Scholarships $ 5,000 External Scholarships $ 88,000 $ 445,450 Grants and Collaborative Research (excluding Salaries & Scholarships) ARC Discovery Grants $ 1,180,655 ARC Linkage Grants $ 990,216 ARC Linkage - Industry Partner Contributions $ 1,065,025 Australian Industry Contributions $ 151,604 SEQ Urban Water Security Research Alliance $ 645,569 DIISR ISL Grants $ 353,792 QLD Government Smart State Program $ 223,000 Other Government Grants $ 62,214 Water Recycling Research Program (Veolia Water and WaterSecure) $ 750,000 Cities as Water Supply Catchments Project $ 356,325 Grains R&D Corporation Funding $ 265,995 Environmental Biotechnology CRC research projects $ 148,924 Consultancy Income $ 400,634 $ 6,593,953 Total income $ 9,314,510

Expenditure Expenses 2007 2008 Consumables $ 1,133,446 $ 2,236,232 Travel $ 232,266 $ 273,370 Academic and Research Salaries $ 1,779,285 $ 2,821,922 General Salaries $ 315,782 $ 393,016 Scholarships $ 243,746 $ 218,343 Equipment $ 147,671 $ 288,250 Appointment Expenses $ 18,313 $ 47,127 Payments to collaborative partners Total Expenditure $ 3,870,509 $ 6,278,260

2009 $ 1,416,665 $ 419,339 $ 3,258,602 $ 493,345 $ 614,043 $ 549,472 $ 62,987 $ 671,785 $ 7,486,238

2010 $ 1,114,924 $ 471,378 $ 3,782,407 $ 841,859 $ 447,415 $ 707,115 $ 75,370 $ 1,300,355 $ 8,740,823

Operating Result $ (including existing commitments to ongoing research projects)

573,686

AWMC Annual Report 2010 35

Grant Title

Duration

Chief Investigators

Funding

Novel concept for wastewater treatment with integrated power production based on microbial fuel cells

2006 - 2010

Jurg Keller and Zhiguo Yuan, Willy Verstraete (Univ. Ghent, Belgium)

ARC Discovery - Australian Professorial Fellowship (Keller)

Anaerobic digestion process scientific support

2006 - 2010

Damien Batstone

Gold Coast Water (now Allconnex Water), Brisbane Water (now Urban Utilities)

NEPTUNE - Novel technology to produce biodegradable polymer and electrical energy from sewage treatment biosolids

2007 - 2010

Jurg Keller, Paul Lant, Damien Batstone, Korneel Rabaey, Steven Pratt, Shelley Brown and five partner investigators

DIISR International Science Linkages/European Union

SEQ urban water security research alliance - Life cycle analysis and integrated modelling

2007 - 2010

Paul Lant

Queensland Government

Advanced aerobic granulation - Project 4.22

2007 - 2010

Maite Pijuan, Zhiguo Yuan, and Jurg Keller

Environmental Biotechnology CRC

INNOWATECH - Novel microbial technologies for improved treatment of industrial wastewater

2007 - 2011

Jurg Keller, Zhiguo Yuan, Phil Bond

DIISR International Science Linkages/European Union

SEQ urban water security research alliance N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) formation potential

2007 - 2012

Jurg Keller and Maria José Farré

Queensland Government

SEQ urban water security research alliance - Enhanced treatment

2007 - 2012

Jurg Keller and Julien Reungoat

Queensland Government

SEQ urban water security research alliance - Purified recycled water

2007 - 2012

Jurg Keller and Christoph Ort

Queensland Government

Extracellular electron transfer in bio-electrochemical systems

2008 - 2011

Korneel Rabaey, Phil Bond, Kenneth Nealson (J. Craig Venter Institute, USA), Nico Boon (Univ. Ghent, Belgium) and Susan Turner (Univ. Auckland, New Zealand)

ARC Discovery - Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship (Rabaey)

Least cost applications of anaerobic digestion in agriculture - Methane to markets scheme

2008 - 2011

Damien Batstone

Australian Pork Limited, Meat and Livestock Australia, Rural Industries RDC

Next generation solids stabilisation

2008 - 2012

Damien Batstone, Phil Bond and Paul Jensen

Queensland Government Smart State Research Industry Partnerships Program - Meat and Livestock Australia, Environmental Biotechnology CRC

Water recycling research program

2008 - 2012

Wolfgang Gernjak and Jurg Keller

Veolia Water Australia, WaterSecure, UQ

Optimal management of corrosion and odour problems in sewer systems

2008 - 2013

Zhiguo Yuan, Jurg Keller, Phil Bond, Korneel Rabaey and nine other chief/partner investigators

ARC Linkage with 16 Partners

A novel method for sulfur recovery from paper industry wastewater

2009 - 2010

Jurg Keller, Korneel Rabaey and René Rozendal

UQ First Link Fund

Characterising phage-host dynamics in wastewater communities

2009 - 2010

Gene Tyson

UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund

Bioelectrochemical systems for the production of butanol from waste organics or renewable power

2009 - 2010

Korneel Rabaey

UQ Foundation Research Excellence Awards - DVC(R) Funding

Coupling of biological activated carbon filtration and membrane processes to generate high quality recycled water with low energy consumption

2009 - 2010

Wolfgang Gernjak and Julien Reungoat

UQ First Link Fund

SEQ urban water security research alliance - Fate and effects of micropollutants in water recycling: Influence of dissolved organic matter

2009 - 2010

Wolfgang Gernjak and Beate Escher (EnTox)

Queensland Government

Finance & Grants

2010 Active Research Grants

36 AWMC Annual Report 2010

Grant Title

Duration

Chief Investigators

Funding

Fugitive greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater collection, treatment and receiving systems

2009 - 2010

Zhiguo Yuan and Jurg Keller

UQ First Link Fund

Occurrence and fate of illicit drugs in Australian sewage treatment work

2009 - 2010

Christoph Ort

UQ First Link Fund

Production of algae biofuel: A multi-benefit solution for managing coal seam gas water

2009 - 2010

Steven Pratt, Paul Lant and Damien Batstone

UQ First Link Fund

Recovery of phosphate and iron from chemical precipitation sludge in water recycling processes

2009 - 2010

Jurg Keller and Zhiguo Yuan

UQ First Link Fund

Review of waste to energy processes for the chicken meat industry

2009 - 2010

Damien Batstone

FSA Consulting

Understanding and control of methane formation and emission from wastewater collection systems

2009 - 2010

Jurg Keller, Zhiguo Yuan and Keshab Sharma

UQ First Link Fund

ANAMIX: A two year exchange programme on anaerobic mixed cultures to study and improve biological generation of chemicals and energy carriers from organic residues generated by agro-industrial activity

2009 - 2011

Damien Batstone

Australian Academy of Science

Biotransformation and biodegradation of organic nitrogen compounds from wastewater in bio-electrochemical systems

2009 - 2011

Yang Mu and Jurg Keller

ARC Discovery - Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship (Mu)

Fertiliser from waste: Phase 1

2009 - 2011

Damien Batstone

Grains RDC

Understanding fugitive greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater systems

2009 - 2011

Zhiguo Yuan, Paul Lant and David Richardson (UEA, UK)

ARC Discovery

Electrochemical treatment of problematic water recycle waste streams

2009 - 2012

Korneel Rabaey, Yang Mu, René Rozendal, Damien Batstone, Jurg Keller, Jochen Mueller (EnTox), Wolfgang Gernjak, Yvan Poussade (Veolia Water Australia) and Benjamin Tan (QLD Health)

ARC Linkage: Veolia Water Australia, Magneto Special Anodes, Queensland Health and SEQ UWSRA

Understanding and mitigating nitrous oxide emission from wastewater treatment plants

2009 - 2012

Zhiguo Yuan, Katie De Jong (SKM) and Paul Lant

ARC Linkage: Water Corporation

Novel aerobic granular sludge process for optimal wastewater treatment

2009 - 2012

Phil Bond

Queensland Government Smart State Fellowships (Bond)

Interspecies electron transfer in biotechnology

2009 - 2013

Damien Batstone, Korneel Rabaey, Cristian Picioreanu (TU Delft, The Netherlands) and Alfons Stams (Wageningen Univ., The Netherlands)

ARC Discovery - Australian Research Fellowship (Batstone)

Production of PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate) bioplastics from organic waste

2009 - 2013

Paul Lant, Steven Pratt, Alan Werker (AnoxKaldnes) and Peter Halley (AIBN)

ARC Linkage: AnoxKaldnes, Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies (Australia) Pty Ltd

A facility to characterise disinfection by-products and dissolved organic matter in potable water and potable water sources

2010 - 2010

Jurg Keller, Zhiguo Yuan, Wolfgang Gernjak, Jelena Radjenovic, Maria José Farré and Beatrice Keller-Lehmann

UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure

Diversity and distribution of methanogenic and methanotrophic microorganisms in the suboxic transition zones of Little Nerang Dam

2010 - 2010

Zhiguo Yuan, Gene Tyson and Shihu Hu

Seqwater

Transformation and distribution of fossil carbon in wastewater treatment pathway, from input to discharge

2010 - 2010

Paul Lant and Yingyu Law

Australian Institute Nuclear Science and Engineering

Understanding the competition between sulfate reducing bacteria and methane producing Archaea in anaerobic sewer biofilms

2010 - 2010

Keshab Sharma

UQ Early Career Researcher

(Bio)electrochemical recovery of caustic and polysulphide compounds from industrial wastewater (Researcher in Business Project)

2010 - 2011

René Rozendal, Korneel Rabaey and Cameron Smeal (Gelita)

Gelita Australia Pty Ltd

Effect of low flow in sewers on blockages, corrosion and downstream processes

2010 - 2011

Zhiguo Yuan, Shihu Hu and Jurg Keller

Sydney Water Corporation

Enhancing ethanol production in Escherichia coli through electrochemical stimulation

2010 - 2011

Bernardino Virdis

UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund

Impact of oxygen on methane production in sewer systems

2010 - 2011

Ramon Ganigué Pagès

UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund

Influence of the composition of effluent organic matter on the adsorption of micropollutants in conventionally treated wastewater

2010 - 2011

Julien Reungoat

UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund

Research Grants

AWMC Annual Report 2010 37

Grant Title

Duration

Chief Investigators

Funding

Optimisation of biological pre-treatment to limit microfiltration/ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis fouling and maximise retention of organic contaminants

2010 - 2011

Jurg Keller and Wolfgang Gernjak

DIISR - International Science Linkage French-Australian Science and Technology Program

Simultaneous recovery of phosphorus and scale control in secondary effluent membrane filtration

2010 - 2011

Marc Pidou

UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund

The effect of free nitrous acid on anaerobic metabolism of polyphosphate accumulating organisms and glycogen accumulating organisms in enhanced biological phosphorus removal systems

2010 - 2011

Liu Ye

UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund

UV/H2O2 oxidation: Study of reaction mechanisms and structural elucidation of degradation products of selected pharmaceuticals and pesticides

2010 - 2011

Jelena Radjenovic

UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund

Cities as water supply catchments

2010 - 2012

Wolfgang Gernjak, Jurg Keller, Paul Lant and Beate Escher (EnTox) with several partners from Monash University (project leader)

National Water Commission, Victorian Smart Water Fund, Monash University and funding from more than 15 industry partners

Coals as methane bioreactors: significance of microbial methane generation in coal seams for coal seam gas production and CO2 geosequestration

2010 - 2012

Gene Tyson

ARC Linkage: QGC Pty Ltd, Santos Ltd, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

SEQ urban water security research alliance - Hospital wastewater

2010 - 2012

Wolfgang Gernjak, Jurg Keller and Kristell Le Corre

Queensland Government

Hydrogen peroxide production through bioelectrochemical conversion of wastewater organics

2010 - 2012

René Rozendal

UQ Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (Rozendal)

SEQ urban water security research alliance - Assessment of regulated and emerging disinfection by-products in South East Queensland drinking water

2010 - 2012

Maria José Farré

Queensland Government

Nitrous oxide and methane emissions from South East Queensland waterways and influence of wastewater discharges

2010 - 2013

Zhiguo Yuan, Raymond Zeng (USTC), Jurg Keller, Eva Abal (Healthy Waterways) and James Udy (Seqwater)

ARC Linkage: Healthy Waterways Pty Ltd, Seqwater

Iron and Phosphorus recovery from iron precipitation sludge

2010 - 2013

Jurg Keller, René Rozendal, Korneel Rabaey, Yvan Poussade (Veolia Water Australia) and Cedric Robillot (WaterSecure)

ARC Linkage: Veolia Water Australia, Seqwater

The only constant is change: ecology and evolution of phage-host interactions in a model ecosystem

2010 - 2014

Gene Tyson and Phil Hugenholtz (ACE)

ARC Discovery - QEII Fellowship (Tyson)

ACE - Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, UQ; AIBN - Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, UQ; ARC - Australian Research Council; CRC - Cooperative Research Centre; DIISR - Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research; EnTox - National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology, UQ; RDC - Research and Development Corporation; SEQ - South East Queensland; SKM - Sinclair Knight Merz; UEA - University of East Anglia, UK; USTC - University of Technology and Science of China; UWSRA - Urban Water Security Research Alliance

38 AWMC Annual Report 2010

2010 Publications

Cover of Nature Reviews - Microbiology

Theses The following theses of AWMC enrolled students were submitted in 2010. Barr, J. (2010) The microbial ecology of granular sludge in enhanced biological phosphorus removal, PhD Hu, S. (2010) Enrichment and understanding of denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidation (DAMO) organisms, PhD, Conferred Jiang, G. (2010) Control of sulfide and methane production in sewers using nitrate and nitrite, PhD, Conferred Read, S. (2010) Microbial ecology of extracellular electron transfer, PhD Seviour, T. (2010) Aerobic sludge granules: Macromolecular associations in extracellular polymeric substances, PhD Virdis, B. (2010) Nitrogen removal in bioelectrochemical systems, PhD, Conferred Zhang, L. (2010) Understanding the biotransformation processes in a sewer system to achieve optimal management, PhD, Conferred

Peer reviewed publications Antony, P.J., Singh Raman, R. K., Kumar, P., Raman, R. (2010) Role of microstructure on corrosion of duplex stainless steel in presence of bacterial activity, Corrosion Science, 52:1404-1412 Arcos-Hernandez, M.V., Gurieff, N., Pratt, S., Magnusson, P., Werker, A., Vargas, A., and Lant, P. (2010) Rapid quantification of intracellular PHA using infrared spectroscopy: An application in mixed cultures, Journal of Biotechnology, 150(3):372-379 Assemi, S., Tadjiki, S., Donose, B. C., Nguyen, A.V., and Miller, J. (2010) Aggregation of fullerol C60(OH)24 nanoparticles as revealed using flow field-flow fractionation and atomic force microscopy, Langmuir, 26 (20):16063–16070 Baker-Austin, C., Potrykus, J., Wexler, M., Bond, P.L., and Dopson, M. (2010) Biofilm development in the extremely acidophilic archaeon ‘Ferroplasma acidarmanus’ Fer1, Extremophiles, 14(6):485-491 Barr, J.J., Blackall, L.L. and Bond, P.L. (2010) Further limitations of phylogenetic group specific probes used for the detection of bacteria in environmental samples, The ISME Journal, 4(8):959-961

Barr, J.J., Cook, A.E. and Bond, P.L. (2010) Granule formation mechanisms within an aerobic wastewater system operating for phosphorus removal, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 76 (22):7588-7597 Barr, J.J., Slater, F., Fukushima, T. and Bond, P.L. (2010) Evidence for bacteriophage activity causing community and performance changes in a phosphorus-removal activated sludge, FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 74(3):631-642 Bastidas-Oyanedel, J-R, Mohd-Zaki, Z., Pratt, S., Steyer, J-P, and Batstone, D.J. (2010) Development of membrane inlet mass spectrometry for examination of fermentation processes, Talanta, 83(2):482-492 Batstone, D.J., Balthes, C., and Barr, K. (2010) Model assisted startup of anaerobic digesters fed with thermally hydrolysed activated sludge, Water Science and Technology, 62(7):1661-1666 Boe, K., Batstone, D.J., Steyer, J.P., and Angelidaki, I. (2010) State indicators for monitoring the anaerobic digestion process, Water Research, 44(20):5973-5980 Carrère, H., Dumas, C., Battimelli, A., Batstone, D.J., Delgenès, J.P., Steyer, J.P., and Ferrer, I. (2010) Pretreatment methods to improve sludge anaerobic degradability: A review, Journal of Hazardous Materials, 183(1-3):1-15 Dennis, P.G., Miller, A.J., and Hirsch, P.R. (2010) Are root exudates more important than other sources of rhizodeposits in determining the structure of rhizosphere bacterial communities?, FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 72:313-327 Dutta, P. K., Rabaey, K., Yuan, Z., Rozendal, R. A., and Keller, J. (2010) Electrochemical sulfide removal and recovery from paper mill anaerobic treatment effluent, Water Research, 44(8):2563-2571 Farré, M.J., Doederer, K., Hearn, L. Poussade, Y., Keller, J. and Gernjak, W. (2010) Understanding the parameters affecting NDMA formation at advanced water treatment plants, Journal of Hazardous Material, 185(2-3):1575-1581 Foley, J. M., Rozendal, R.A., Hertle, C.K., Lant, P.A. and Rabaey, K. (2010) Life cycle assessment of high-rate anaerobic treatment, microbial fuel cells, and microbial electrolysis cells, Environmental Science and Technology, 44:3629-3637 Foley, J., de Haas, D., Yuan, Z. and Lant, P. (2010) Nitrous oxide generation in full-scale biological nutrient removal wastewater treatment plants, Water Research, 44:831-844 Freguia, S., Teh, E.H., Boon, N., Leung, K.M., Keller, J. and Rabaey, K. (2010) Microbial fuel cells operating on mixed fatty acids, Bioresource Technology, 101:1233–1238

AWMC Annual Report 2010 39

Ge, H.Q., Jensen, P.D., Batstone, D.J. (2010) Pre-treatment mechanisms during thermophilic-mesophilic temperature phased anaerobic digestion of primary sludge, Water Research, 44(1):123-130 Guisasola, A. Marcelino, M., Lemaire, R. Baeza, J. A. and Yuan, Z. (2010) Modelling and simulation revealing mechanisms likely responsible for achieving the nitrite pathway through aeration control, Water Science and Technology, 61(6):1459-1465 Gutierrez, O., Park, D., Sharma, K. R., and Yuan, Z. (2010) Iron salts dosage for sulfide control in sewers induces chemical phosphorus removal during wastewater treatment, Water Research, 44(11):3467-3475 Gutierrez, O., Sutherland-Stacey, L., and Yuan, Z. (2010) Simultaneous online measurement of sulfide and nitrate in sewers for nitrate dosage optimisation, Water Science and Technology, 61(3):651-658 Hudson, J.E., Frith, J.E., Donose, B.C., Rondeau, E., Mills, R.J., Wolvetang, E., Brooke, G., and Cooper-White, J.J. (2010) A synthetic elastomer based on acrylated polypropylene glycol triol with tuneable modulus for tissue engineering applications, Biomaterials, 31(31):7937-7947 Jiang, G., Gutierrez, O., Sharma, K.R. and Yuan, Z. (2010) Effects of nitrite concentration and exposure time on sulfide and methane production in sewer systems, Water Research, 44(14):4241-4251 Lawrence, M.G., Keller, J. and Poussade, Y. (2010) Removal of magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents through advanced water treatment plants, Water Science and Technology, 61:685-692 Macova, M., Escher, B.I., Reungoat, J., Carswell, S., Chue, K.L., Keller, J. and Mueller, J.F. (2010) Monitoring the biological activity of micropollutants during advanced wastewater treatment with ozonation and activated carbon filtration, Water Research, 44(2):477-492 Martinez, A., Tyson, G.W., and DeLong E.F. (2010) Widespread known and novel phosphonate utilization pathways in marine bacteria revealed by functional screening and metagenomic analyses, Environmental Microbiology, 12:222-238 Morgan-Sagatume, F., Karlsson, A., Johansson, P., Pratt, S., Boon, N., Lant, P., and Werker, A. (2010) Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates in open, mixed cultures from a waste sludge stream containing high levels of soluble organics, nitrogen and phosphorus, Water Research, 44(18):5196-5211 Mu, Y., Radjenovic, J., Shen, J., Rozendal, R.A., Mu Y., Rabaey, K., and Keller, J. (2010) Dehalogenation of iodinated X-ray contrast media in a bioelectrochemical system, Environmental Science and Technology, 45(2):782-788 Ort, C., Lawrence, M.G., Reungoat, J. and Mueller, J.F. (2010) Sampling for PPCPs in wastewater systems: A comparison of different sampling modes and optimization strategies, Environmental Science and Technology, 44(16):6289–6296 Ort, C., Lawrence, M.G., Reungoat, J., Eagelsham, G., Carter, S. and Keller, J. (2010) Determining the fraction of pharmaceutical residues in wastewater originating from a hospital, Water Research, 44(2):605-615 Pijuan, M. and Yuan, Z. (2010) Development and optimization of a sequencing batch reactor for nitrogen and phosphorus removal from abattoir wastewater to meet irrigation standards, Water Science and Technology, 61(8):2105-2112 Pijuan, M., Ye, L., and Yuan, Z. (2010) Free nitrous acid inhibition on the aerobic metabolism of Poly-phosphate accumulating organisms, Water Research, 44(20):6063-6072

Rabaey, K. and Rozendal, R.A. (2010) Microbial electrosynthesis: Revisiting the electrical route for bioproduction, Nature Reviews Microbiology, 8:706-716 Rabaey, K., Buetzer, S., Brown, S., Keller, J. and Rozendal, R. (2010) High current generation coupled to caustic production using a lamellar bioelectrochemical system, Environmental Science and Technology, 44:4315-4321 Radjenovic, J., Bagastyo, A., Rozendal, R.A., Mu, Y., Keller, J., and Rabaey, K. (2010) Electrochemical oxidation of trace organic contaminants in reverse osmosis concentrate using RuO2/IrO2coated titanium anodes, Water Research, 45(4):1579-1586 Read, S.T., Dutta, P.K., Bond, P.L., Keller, J. and Rabaey, K. (2010) Initial development and structure of biofilms on microbial fuel cell anodes, BMC Microbiology, 10:art.no.98 Reungoat, J., Macova, M., Carswell, S., Escher, B.I., Mueller, J.F., Gernjak, W., and Keller, J. (2010) Effective removal of pathogens and micropollutants by ozone and GAC, Water, 37(1):69-72 Reungoat, J., Macova, M., Escher, B.I., Carswell, S., Mueller, J.F., and Keller, J. (2010) Removal of micropollutants and reduction of biological activity in a full scale reclamation plant using ozonation and activated carbon filtration, Water Research, 44(2):625-637 Reyes, A., Haynes, M., Hanson, N., Angly, F.E., Heath, A.C., Rohwer, F., and Gordon, J.I. (2010) Viruses in the faecal microbiota of monozygotic twins and their mothers, Nature, 466:334-338 Rodriguez-Brito, B., Li, L.L., Wegley, L., Furlan, M., Angly, F., Breitbart, M., Buchanan, J., Desnues, C., Dinsdale, E., Edwards, R., Felts, B., Haynes, M., Liu, H., Lipson, D., Mahaffy, J., Martin-Cuadrado, A.B., Mira, A., Nulton, J., Paši, L., Rayhawk, S., Rodriguez-Mueller, J., Rodriguez-Valera, F., Salamon, P., Srinagesh, S., Thingstad, T.F., Tran, T., Vega Thurber, R., Willner, D., Youle, M. and Rohwer, F. (2010) Viral and microbial community dynamics in four aquatic environments, The ISME Journal, 4:739-751 Seviour, T., Donose, B., Pijuan, M., and Yuan, Z. (2010) Purification and conformational analysis of a key exopolysaccharide component of mixed culture aerobic sludge granules, Environmental Science and Technology, 44(12):4729-4734 Seviour, T., Lambert, L., Pijuan, M., and Yuan, Z. (2010) Structural determination of a key exopolysaccharide in mixed culture aerobic sludge granules using NMR spectroscopy, Environmental Science and Technology, 44(23):8964-8970 Shi, Y., Tyson, G.W., Eppley, J.M. and DeLong, E.F. (2010) Integrated metatranscriptomic and metagenomic analyses of stratified microbial assemblages in the open ocean, The ISME Journal, doi:10.1038/ismej.2010.189: Sirtori, C., Agüera, A., Gernjak, W., and Malato, S. (2010) Effect of water-matrix composition on Trimethoprim solar photodegradation kinetics and pathways., Water Research, 44:2735-2744 Slater, F.R., Bruce, K.D., Ellis, R.J., Lilley, A.K., and Turner, S.L. (2010) Determining the effects of a spatially heterogeneous selection pressure on the fitness of plasmid-carrying bacteria at the sub-millimetre scale, Microbial Ecology, 60(4):873-884 Slater, F.R., Johnson, C.R., Blackall, L.L., Beiko, R.G. and Bond, P.L. (2010) Monitoring associations between clade-level variation, overall community structure and ecosystem function in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) systems using terminalrestriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP), Water Research, 44(17):4908-4923 Thompson, J., Eaglesham, G., Reungoat, J., Poussade, Y., Bartkow, M., Lawrence, M., and Mueller, J.F. (2010) Removal of PFOS, PFOA and other perfluoroalkyl acids at water reclamation plants in South East Queensland Australia, Chemosphere, 82(1):9-17

Publications

Gao, Y.Q , Peng, Y.Z., Zhang, J.Y., Wang, J.L. and Ye, L (2010) Using excess sludge as carbon source for enhanced nitrogen removal and sludge reduction with hydrolysis technology, Water Science and Technology, 62 (7):1536-1543

40 AWMC Annual Report 2010

Virdis, B., Rabaey, K., Rozendal, R.A, Yuan, Z., and Keller, J. (2010) Simultaneous nitrification, denitrification and carbon removal in microbial fuel cells, Water Research, 44 (9):2970-2980

Batstone D.J., Jensen, P.D. and Ge, H. (2010) Comparison of methods to assess biosolids anaerobic degradation rate and extent, AWA Biosolids Specialty Conference V, June 2-4, Sydney, Australia

Virdis, B., Read, S.T., Rabaey, K., Rozendal, R.A., Yuan, Z. and Keller, J. (2011) Distribution of nitrifying and denitrifying organisms during simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) at a biocathode, Bioresource Technology, 102(1):334-341

Batstone, D.J. (2010) Anaerobic digestion of complex organic waste: perspectives and opportunities, International workshop on anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse waste, June 9-11, Barcelona, Spain

Willner D., Furlan M., Schmieder R., Grasis J.A., Pride D.T., Relman D.A., Angly F.E., McDole T., Mariella R.P., Rohwer F., and Haynes M. (2010) Metagenomic detection of phage-encoded platelet-binding factors in the human oral cavity, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1000089107:

Batstone, D.J. (2010) Workshop 6: Towards a generalised physisochemical framework, WWTmod 2nd IWA/WEF Wastewater treatment modelling seminar, March 28-30, Quebec, Canada

Wright, C.M., Larsen, J.E., Colosimo, M.L., Barr, J.J., Chen, L., McLachlan, R.E., Yang, I.A., Bowman, R.V., and Fong, K.M. (2010) Genetic association study of CYP1A1 polymorphisms identifies risk haplotypes in nonsmall cell lung cancer, European Respiratory Journal, 35 (1):152-159 Wrighton, K., Virdis, B., Clauwaert, P., Read, S., Boon, N., Keller, J., Anderson, G.T., Coates, J.D., and Rabaey, K. (2010) Biological nitrate reduction using electrical current: microbial communities and key players, The ISME Journal, 4(11):1443-55 Ye, L., Pijuan, M., and Yuan, Z. (2010) The effect of free nitrous acid on the anabolic and catabolic processes of glycogen accumulating organisms, Water Research, 44(9):2901-2909 Yilmaz, S., Haroon, M.F., Rabkin, B.A., Tyson, G.W. and Hugenholtz, P. (2010) Fixation-free fluorescence in situ hybridization for targeted enrichment of microbial populations, The ISME Journal, 4:1352-1356 Zhang, L., Keller, J., and Yuan, Z. (2010) Ferrous salt demand for sulfide control in rising main sewers: tests on a laboratory scale sewer system, ASCE Journal of Environmental Engineering, 136(10):1180-1187 Zhao, B.H., Mu, Y., Dong, F., Ni B.J., Zhao, J.B., Sheng, G.P., Yu, H.Q., Li, Y.Y., and Harada, H. (2010) Dynamic modelling the anaerobic reactor start-up process, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 49(16):7193-7200 Zhou, Y., Ganda, L., Lim, M., Yuan, Z., Kjelleberg, S., and Ng, W.J. (2010) Free nitrous acid (FNA) inhibition on denitrifying poly-phosphate accumulating organisms (DPAOs), Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 88(1):359-369 Zhou, Y., Pijuan, M., Oehmen, A., and Yuan, Z. (2010) The source of reducing power in the anaerobic metabolism of polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs): A mini-review, Water Science and Technology, 61(7):1653-1662

Non-refereed Articles Batstone, D.J. (2010) Approaching anaerobic digestion with a view to resource recovery, IWA Yearbook, 2010, 43-45 Rabaey, K., Johnstone, A.J., Wise, A., Read, S.T., and Rozendal, R.A. (2010) Microbial electrosynthesis - From electricity to biofuels and biochemicals, Biotechnology International, July

Conference Papers Antony, P.J., Keller, J., and Bond, P.L. (2010) Examination of concrete corrosion using a laboratory experimental set up simulating sewer conditions, 6th International Conference on Sewer Processes & Networks, November 7-10, Gold Coast, Australia Arcos-Hernandez, M.V., Pratt, S., and Lant, P. (2010) Novel direct accumulation of PHA from waste activated sludge, International Symposium on Biopolymers Proceedings, October 3-7, Stuttgart, Germany. Bar, J.J., Fukushima, T., Haiste, M., Plan, M.R., Gorman, J. and Bond, P.L. (2010) Community proteomics highlights extra-cellular differences between granular and floccular sludge, 13th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, August 22-27, Seattle, USA Barr, J.J (2010) Metatranscriptomic and metaproteomic comparison of floccular and granular sludges, AusBiotech2010, October 19-22, Melbourne, Australia

Batstone, D.J., Amerlinck, Y., Ekama, G., Goel, R., Grau, P., Johnson, B., Kaya, I., Steyer, J.P., Takacs, I., Vanrolleghem, P.A., and Volcke, E. (2010) Towards a generalized physicochemical framework, 83rd Annual Water Environment Federation Technical Exhibition and Conference, October 2-6, New Orleans, USA Birchall, S., Batstone, D.J., and Gopalan, P. (2010) Biogas production from a covered Ananerobic Lagoon; Analysis of data from Bears Lagoon Piggery, Bioenergy Australia, December 8-10, Sydney, Australia Bond, P.L. (2010) Aerobic granular biofilms, the next big hing in activated sludge, 51st Annual Australian Society of Microbiology Conference, July 4-8, Sydney, Australia Bonmati, A., Mu, Y., Rozendal, R.A., Keller, J., and Rabaey, K. (2010) Oxalate degradation in a bioelectrochemical system, 12th World Congress on Anaerobic Digestion, October 31-November 4, Guadalajara, Mexico Cayford, B.I., Bond P.L., Keller, J., and Tyson, G.W. (2010) Microbial community composition of sulfide oxidising biofilms responsible for sewer corrosion, 13th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, August 22-27, Seattle, USA Cayford, B.I., Tyson, G.W., Keller, J., and Bond, P.L. (2010) Microbial community composition of biofilms associated with sewer corrosion, 6th International Conference on Sewer Processes & Networks, November 7-10, Gold Coast, Australia Cirne, D., Pratt, S., Lant, P., and Batstone, B.J. (2010) Microbial community analysis during continuous fermentation of thermally hydrolysed waste, 12th World Congress on Anaerobic Digestion, October 31-November 4, Guadalajara, Mexico Coma, M., Verawaty, M., Yuan, Z., Pijuan, M., and Bond, P. (2010) Application of the aerobic granular technology to treat domestic wastewater for biological nutrient removal, AWA Ozwater Convention and Exhibition, March 8-10, Brisbane, Australia Corrie, S., Sharma, K.,Wilson, M., Sikdar, S. and Zieberth, K. (2010) Odour mitigation in the Elanora catchment using modelbased network chemical dosing, AWA Ozwater Convention and Exhibition, March 8-10, Brisbane, Australia Corrie, S., Sharma, K.R., and Fillmore, D. (2010) Chemical dosing recommendations for odour and corrosion control at the Sandstone-Ningi network, using sulfide modelling, 6th International Conference on Sewer Processes & Networks, November 7-10, Gold Coast, Australia Corrie, S.K., Sharma K.R., Sikder, S., Wilson, M., and Ziebarth, K. (2010) Odour and corrosion mitigation in the Elanora catchment using modelbased network chemical dosing, 7th IWA Leading-Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies, June 2-5, Phoenix, USA Crichton, M.L., Donose, B.C.; Chen, X., Han, H. and Kendal, M.A.F. (2010) Determining sub-cellular scale elastic moduli within individual skin layers using AFM indentation and their importance for targeted drug delivery, 6th World Congress on Biomechanics, August 1-6, Singapore Döderer, K., Hearn, L., Gernjak, W., Keller, J., Poussade, Y., and Farré M-J (2010) Fate of NDMA and its precursors across UF/RO membranes during the production of high quality recycled water, Membranes in the Production of Drinking and Industrial Water, June 27-30, Trondheim, Norway Farré, M.J., Weinberg, H.S., Lyon, B., Poussade, Y., Keller, J., and Gernjak, W. (2010) Fate of disinfection by-products & their precursors across reverse osmosis membranes when producing high quality recycled water, Water Quality Technology Conference and Exposition, November 14-18, Savannah, USA

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Lu, Y., Slater, F.R., Mohd-Zaki, Z., Pratt, S., and Batstone, D.J. (2010) Impact of operating history on mixed culture fermentation microbial ecology and product mixture, 12th World Congress on Anaerobic Digestion, October 31-November 4, Guadalajara, Mexico

Gabarró, J., Ganigué, R., Ruscalleda, M., Balaguer, M.D., and Colprim, J. (2010) Temperature effects on partial nitritation treating extremely high ammonium levels of landfill leachate, Enzymology and ecology of the nitrogen cycle - Biochemical Society, September 15-17, Birmingham, UK

Mehta, C. (2010) Application of digestate for agriculture application in Australia: Opportunities and challenges, 12th World Congress on Anaerobic Digestion, October 31-November 4, Guadalajara, Mexico

Ge, H.Q., Jensen, P.D., and Batstone, D.J. (2010) Relative kinetics of anaerobic digestion under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions, 12th World Congress on Anaerobic Digestion, October 31-November 4, Guadalajara, Mexico

Mu, Y., Rozendal, R.A., Rabaey, K., and Keller, J. (2010) Removal of recalcitrant organic pollutants from wastewater in a bioelectrochemical system, 12th World Congress on Anaerobic Digestion, October 31-November 4, Guadalajara, Mexico

Gopalan, P., Jensen, P.D, and Batstone, D.J. (2010) Overcoming Performance Barriers: Low-Cost Applications of AD to Livestock Waste, 1st Methane to Markets Partnership Expo, March 2-5, Delhi, India

Mu, Y., Rozendal, R.A., Rabaey, K., and Keller, J. (2010) Electrochemically active bacteria assisted nitrobenzene removal from wastewater, 14th International Biotechnology Symposium and Exhibition, September 14-18, Italy

Gutierrez, O., Sudarjanto, G., Sharma, K.R., and Yuan, Z. (2010) SCORe-CT: a new method for testing effectiveness of sulfidecontrol chemicals used in sewer systems, 6th International Conference on Sewer Processes & Networks, November 7-10, Gold Coast, Australia

Pervin, H., Lim, H.J., Tyson, G.W., Batstone, D.J., and Bond, P.L. (2010) Evaluation of Bacterial community structure and dynamics in mesophilic and thermophilic pretreatment of two stage anaerobic digestion, 13th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, August 22-27, Seattle, USA

Gutierrez, O., Sudarjanto, G., Sharma, K.R., Keller, J., and Yuan, Z. (2010) SCORe-CT: A new method for testing effectiveness of sulfide-control chemicals used in sewer systems, 6th International Conference on Sewer Processes & Networks, November 7-10, Gold Coast, Australia

Pijuan, M, Liu, Y. and Yuan, Z. (2010) Could nitrite/free nitrous acid favour GAOs over PAOs in enhanced biological phosphorus removal systems?, IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition, September 19–24, Montréal, Canada

Hill, B., Pijuan, M., Werner, U. and Yuan, Z. (2010) Effect of free nitrous acid on nitrous oxide production by a full-scale denitrifying sludge, 7th IWA Leading-Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies, June 2-5, Phoenix, USA Hines, M.J., Donose, B.C., Green, D., and Cooper-White, J.J. (2010) Bulk adsorption vs. microfluidic deposition of a four protein mixture: A dynamic force spectroscopy study, 21st Australian Conference on Microscopy and Microanalysis, July 11-15, Brisbane, Australia Jensen, P., Ge, H. and Batstone, D.J (2010) Assessing the role of biochemical methane potential tests in determining anaerobic degradability rate and extent, 12th World Congress on Anaerobic Digestion, October 31-November 4, Guadalajara, Mexico Jiang, G., Gutierrez, O., Sharma, K.R., Keller, J. and Yuan, Z. (2010) Free nitrous acid controls sulfide and methane production in rising main sewers, 6th International Conference on Sewer Processes & Networks, November 7-10, Gold Coast, Australia Keller J., Mu Y., Radjenovic J., Rozendal R.A., and Rabaey K. (2010) Dehalogenation of iodinated X-ray contrast media in a bioelectrochemical system, 61st Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry, September 26-October 1, Nice, France Keller, J. and Yuan, Z. (2010) Wastewater treatment and greenhouse gas emissions, 7th IWA Leading-Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies, June 2-5, Phoenix, USA Keller, J., Mu, Y., Radjenovic, J., Rozendal, R.A., and Rabaey, K. (2010) Dehalogenation of iodinated X-Ray contrast media in a bioelectrochemical system, 61st Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry, September 26-October 1, Nice, France Keymer, P., Pratt, S. and Lant, P. (2010) Increasing anaerobic methane production from algal biomass by pretreatment, Bioenergy Australia, December 8-10, Sydney, Australia

Pikaar, I. (2010) High rate electrochemical sulfide removal from synthetic feed and real domestic wastewater, 6th International Conference on Sewer Processes & Networks, November 7-10, Gold Coast, Australia Pikaar, I. (2010) High rate electrochemical sulfide removal from synthetic feed and real domestic wastewater, 61st Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry, September 26 - October 1, Nice, France Pratt, S., Werker, A., Morgan-Sagastume, F., and Lant, P. (2010) Microaerophilic conditions support elevated mixed culture PHA yields, but result in decreased PHA production rates, IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition, September 19-24, Montréal, Canada Rabaey, K. (2010) Electrical current sustains highly diverse denitrifying and bioproduction communities, 13th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, August 22-27, Seattle, USA Rabaey, K. and Rozendal, R.A. (2010) Caustic soda and hydrogen peroxide from pulp & paper wastewater, Australian Pulp and Paper Industry Technical Association, April 19-20, Melbourne, Australia Rabaey, K. and Rozendal, R.A. (2010) Energy efficient production of caustic soda from wastewater using bioelectrochemical systems, Annual Meeting of the American Chemical Society, March 21-25, San Francisco, USA Radjenovic, J., Bagastyo, A., Mu, Y., Rozendal, R.A., and Rabaey, K. (2010) Electrochemical treatment of reverse osmosis concentrate, 2nd Regional Symposium on Electrochemistry: South-East Europe, June 6-10, Belgrade, Serbia Rattier, M., Fudianto, R., Antony, A., Farré, M.J., Leslie, G., Poussade, Y., Keller, J. and Gernjak, W. (2010) Change of performance and properties of reverse osmosis membranes after exposure to free chlorine, Membranes in the Production of Drinking and Industrial Water, June 27-30, Trondheim, Norway

Lane, J., de Haas, D., and Lant, P. (2010) Life Cycle Impacts of the Gold Coast Urban Water Cycle, AWA Ozwater Convention and Exhibition, March 8-10, Brisbane, Australia

Rattier, M., Reungoat, J., Tyson, G., Yang, Q., Gernjak, W., and Keller, J. (2010) Fundamental investigation on biological activated carbon, Science Form of the Urban Water Security Research Alliance (UWSRA), September 28-29, Brisbane, Australia

Lane, J., de Haas, D., and Lant, P. (2010) Life Cycle Analysis of the Gold Coast Urban Water Cycle, Science Form of the Urban Water Security Research Alliance (UWSRA), September 28-29, Brisbane, Australia

Read, S.T., Turner, S., Lau, K., Pichler, F.P., Keller, J., and Rabaey, K (2010) Coculture response of Enterococcus faecium and Gram negatives during current generation, 13th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, August 22-27, Seattle, USA

Le Corre, K., Ort, C. and Keller J. (2010) Pharmaceutical audit data from hospital, Science Form of the Urban Water Security Research Alliance (UWSRA), September 28-29, Brisbane, Australia

Reungoat, J., Escher, B.I., Macova, M., Gernjak, W. and Keller, J. (2010) Removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products, reduction of estrogenicity and toxicity in full-scale water reclamation plants based on ozonation and biological activated carbon filtration, 3rd Australian Symposium on Ecological Risk Assessment and Management of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs), Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) in the Australasian Environment, November 10-11, Canberra, Australia

Publications

Fogelman, S. (2010) Evaluation of on-line monitoring sensors for ensuring watquality of new water sources and systems, AWA Ozwater Convention and Exhibition, March 8-10, Brisbane, Australia

42 AWMC Annual Report 2010

Reungoat, J., Gernjak, W. and Keller, J. (2010) Removal of trace organic chemicals from secondary effluents by ozone/ biological activated carbon treatments in Australia, Water Reuse and Desalination: Water Scarcity Solutions for the 21st Century, November 15-17, Sydney, Australia Rootsey, R. and Yuan, Z. (2010) New insights into sewer odour and corrosion, 6th International Conference on Sewer Processes & Networks, November 7-10, Gold Coast, Australia Rootsey, R., and Yuan, Z. (2010) Sewer Odour & Corrosion Research (SCORe) Project – Delivering Outcomes to the Water Industry, AWA Sustainable Infrastructure and Asset Management Conference, November 23-24, Sydney, Australia Sharma K. R., Gutierrez, O., Corrie, S. K., and Yuan, Z. (2010) Investigation of the effects of chemical dosing in sewer using integrated modelling of sewer system and wastewater treatment plant, 6th International Conference on Sewer Processes & Networks, November 7-10, Gold Coast, Australia Sharma, G., Shon, H.K., Aryal, R., and Phuntsho, S. (2010) Profiles performance evaluation of microfiltration with electrocoagulation and chemical coagulation pretreatment, 7th International Membrane Science and Technology Conference, November 22-26, Sydney, Australia Sharma, K. R., Gutierrez O., Corrie S., O’Halloran K., Capati B. and Yuan, Z. (2010) Integrated modelling of biotransformation processes in sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants for optimising chemical dosing to sewer networks, 6th International Conference on Sewer Processes & Networks, November 7-10, Gold Coast, Australia Sharma, K.R. and Yuan, Z. (2010) Kinetics of chemical sulfide oxidation under high dissolved oxygen levels, 6th International Conference on Sewer Processes & Networks, November 7-10, Gold Coast, Australia Shaw, A., Coleman, P., Nolasco, D., Rosso, D., Yuan, Z., van Loosdrecht, M.C.M., Shiskowski, D., Chandran, K., Houweling, D., Willis, J., Beecher, N., Corominas, Ll., Siegrist, H., Porro, J., and Nopens, I. (2010) Workshop Summary: The Role of Modelling in Assessing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions, 83rd Annual Water Environment Federation Technical Exhibition and Conference, October 2-6, New Orleans, USA Slater, F.R. (2010) Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (EBPR) bacterial communities: Model systems for microbial ecology studies, 51st Annual Australian Society of Microbiology Conference, July 4-8, Sydney, Australia Slater, F.R., Johnson, C.R., Blackall, L.L., Beiko, R, and Bond, P.L. (2010) Clade-level variation in key bacteria is associated with community composition and ecosystem function in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) systems, IWA Water Research Conference, April 11-14, Lisbon, Portugal Slater, F.R., Johnson, C.R., Blackall, L.L., Beiko, R.G., Lu, Y. and Bond, P.L. (2010) Relating bacterial community structure to process performance in laboratory-scale enhanced biological phosphorus removal systems, 13th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, August 22-27, Seattle, USA

Virdis, B., Rabaey, K., Rozendal, R.A., Keller, J. (2010) Bioelectrochemical Nitrogen and COD removal from synthetic wastewater, 12th World Congress on Anaerobic Digestion, October 31-November 4, Guadalajara, Mexico Virdis, B., Rabaey, K., Rozendal, R.A., Yuan, Z.G., Mu, Y., and Keller, J. (2010) Simultaneous Nitrification and Denitrification (SND) at a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) Biocathode, 14th International Biotechnology Symposium and Exhibition, September 14-18, Italy Yuan, Z. (2010) Corrosion and odour management in sewers – recent advances and key knowledge gaps. Keynote speech, 6th International Conference on Sewer Processes & Networks, November 7-10, Gold Coast, Australia Yuan, Z., Sharma. K. R., Gutierrez, O., Rootsey, R. and Keller, J. (2010) Corrosion and odour management in sewers: recent advances and key knowledge gaps, 6th International Conference on Sewer Processes & Networks, November 7-10, Gold Coast, Australia

Book Chapters Fukushima, T. and Bond P.L.(2010) Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Technology In: Microbial Ecology of Activated Sludge. R. Seviour and P. Halkjær Nielsen (eds), IWA Publishing, 350-359 Freguia, S. (2010) Organics oxidation, In: Bioelectrochemical Systems. From extracellular electron transfer to biotechnologycal application, IWA Publishing, ISBN: 9781843392330. Barr, J. J., Cook, A. E., Fukushima, T. and Bond P.L. (2010) Clone Library Generation In: Microbial Ecology of Activated Sludge. R. Seviour and P. Halkjær Nielsen (eds.), IWA Publishing, 360-370 Fogelman, S.(2010) Technology Career Spotlight: Developing a Dynamic Environmental Calibration Technology For Cost Effective Online Water Quality Monitoring, In: Women in Engineering Science and Technology: Education and Career Challenges, IGI-Global, USA, ISBN 978-1-61520-658

Reports Farré, M.J., Doederer, K., Keller J., Poussade, Y., Mueller, J., and Gernjak, W. (2010) N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in Purified Recycled Water, Final project report, SEQ Urban Water Security Research Alliance

Patents Pijuan, M., Yuan, Z., and Johns, M. (2010) Reducing the start up time of aerobic granular sludge reactors treating nutrient rich wastewater, 2010900901 Yuan, Z. (2010) Pre-treatment of sludge, 2010901789 Yuan, Z. (2010) Production of nitrite, 2010901787 Yuan, Z. (2010) Treatment of membrane used in water treatment, 2010901792

Slater, F.R., Singer, A., Turner, S., Barr, J.J., and Bond, P.L. (2010) Evidence for disrupted performance of wastewater treatment while simulating high-level community use of antiviral and antibiotic drugs, 13th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, August 22-27, Seattle, USA

Yuan, Z., Jiang, G. and Gutierrez, O. (2010) Control of bacterial activity, such as in sewers and wastewater treatment systems, 2010901790

Sudarjanto, G., Gutierrez, O., Sharma, K.R. and Yuan, Z. (2010) A laboratory assessment of the impact of brewery wastewater discharge on sulfide and methane production in a sewer, 6th International Conference on Sewer Processes & Networks, November 7-10, Gold Coast, Australia

Rabaey, K. and Rozendal, R.A. (2010) Production of methanol or methanol derivatives, WO2010068979

Vargas, M., Yuan, Z., and Pijuan, M. (2010) The effect of long starvation conditions on PAO and GAO cultures, IWA Water Research Conference, April 11-14, Lisbon, Portugal

Rabaey, K. and Rozendal, R.A. (2010) Treatment of solutions or wastewater, WO 2010/042987

Verawaty, M. Coma, M. Yuan, Z., Pijuan, M., Bond, P.L. (2010) Application of aerobic granular technology to treat domestic wastewater for biological nutrient removal, AWA Ozwater Convention and Exhibition, March 8-10, Brisbane, Australia Verawaty, M. Yuan, Z., Pijuan, M., Bond, P.L. (2010) Use of fluorescent microbeads to understand aerobic granule formation for activated sludge wastewater treatment, 13th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, August 22-27, Seattle, USA

Rozendal, R.A. and Rabaey, K. (2010) Process for the production of chemicals, WO2010068994

Rabaey, K. and Rozendal, R.A. (2010) Production of hydrogen peroxide, WO 2010/042986

Conference Participation

AWMC Annual Report 2010 43

Acting Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, Annastacia Palaszczuk, visits AWMC Labs

Conference Participation New Zealand Microbial Ecology Consortium, February 12, Auckland, New Zealand

14th International Biotechnology Symposium and Exhibition, September 14-18, Italy

1st Methane to Markets Partnership Expo Proceedings, March 2-5, Delhi, India

IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition, September 19-24, MontrĂŠal, Canada

AWA Ozwater Convention and Exhibition, March 8-10, Brisbane, Australia

61st Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry, September 26-October 1, Nice, France

Annual Meeting of the American Chemical Society, March 21-25, San Francisco, USA

Science Form of the Urban Water Security Research Alliance (UWSRA), September 28-29, Brisbane, Australia

2nd IWA/WEF Wastewater Treatment Modelling Seminar, March 28-30, Quebec, Canada

83rd Annual Water Environment Federation Technical Exhibition and Conference, October 2-6, New Orleans, USA

IWA Water Research Conference, April 11-14, Lisbon, Portugal

International Symposium on Biopolymers Proceedings, October 3-7, Stuttgart, Germany

Australian Pulp and Paper Industry Technical Association, April 19-20, Melbourne, Australia 110th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, May 24-27, San Diego, USA

UK-Australia Frontier of Sciences â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Marine Science, October 9-13, Perth, Australia AusBiotech 2010, October 19-22, Melbourne, Australia

AWA Biosolids Specialty Conference V, June 2-4, Sydney, Australia

12th World Congress on Anaerobic Digestion, October 31-November 4, Guadalajara, Mexico

7th IWA Leading-Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies, June 2-5, Phoenix, USA

6th International Conference on Sewer Processes & Networks, November 7-10, Gold Coast, Australia

2nd Regional Symposium on Electrochemistry: South-East Europe, June 6-10, Belgrade, Serbia

3rd Australian Symposium on Ecological Risk Assessment and Management of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs), Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) in the Australasian Environment, November 10-11, Canberra, Australia

International workshop on anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse waste, June 9-11, Barcelona, Spain Pan Pacific Pork Expo 2010, June 16-17, Gold Coast, Australia

Water Quality Technology Conference and Exposition, November 14-18, Savannah, USA

Membranes in the Production of Drinking and Industrial Water, June 27-30, Trondheim, Norway

Water Reuse and Desalination: Water Scarcity Solutions for the 21st Century, November 15-17, Sydney, Australia

51st Annual Australian Society of Microbiology Conference, July 4-8, Sydney, Australia

6th Conference of the Aseanian Membrane Society, November 22-26, Sydney, Australia

21st Australian Conference on Microscopy and Microanalysis, July 11-15, Brisbane, Australia

7th International Membrane Science and Technology Conference, November 22-26, Sydney, Australia

6th World Congress on Biomechanics, August 1-6, Singapore

AWA Sustainable Infrastructure and Asset Management Conference, November 23-24, Sydney, Australia

13th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, August 22-27, Seattle, USA AWA Specialty Conference: Odours 2010, August 24-25, Sydney, Australia

Bioenergy Australia, December 8-10, Sydney, Australia

44 AWMC Annual Report 2010

2010 Seminars

Prof Nazim Cicek, University of Manitoba, Canada, Membrane related activities in wastewater treatment and biofuel and bioenergy research projects, 18 January Dr Markus Röhricht, University of Applied Sciences GiessenFriedberg, Germany, Elimination of pharmaceuticals from wastewater - Do we need additional treatment steps on our wastewater treatment plants?, 29 January Dr Florent Angly, AWMC, Characterization of environmental viral diversity using high throughput metagenomics, 29 January Prof Christof Holliger, EPFL, Switzerland, Reductive dechlorination of chloroethenes, 5 February Ms Yingyu Law, AWMC, Confirmation seminar: Understanding fugitive nitrous oxide emission from wastewater treatment systems, 12 February Prof David Sedlak, UC Berkeley, USA, Is potable water reuse a viable solution to urban water shortages?, 19 February Dr Chirag Mehta, AWMC, Importance of protein-protein interactions on protein crystallisation, 26 February Mr Ray Rootsey, AWMC, ARC sewer corrosion & odour research (SCORe) linkage project – Summary of year 1 outcomes, 26 February Mr Barry Cayford, AWMC, Confirmation seminar: Investigation of microbial biofilms responsible for sewer corrosion, 4 March Ms Natacha Juste-Poinapen, AWMC, Confirmation seminar: Microbiology and genetics of interspecies electron transfer, 12 March Prof David J. Richardson, University of East Anglia, UK, Mitigating release of the potent greenhouse gas N2O from the nitrogen cycle – Could enzymic regulation hold the key?, 22 March Dr Christoph Ort, AWMC, Tapping into sewers, 9 April Ms Yeting Niu, AWMC, Confirmation seminar: Understanding competition between sulfate-reducing Bacteria (SRB) and methanogenic Archaea (MA) under different conditions in sewer rising main, 16 April Dr Fran Slater, AWMC, Clade-level variation in key bacteria is associated with community composition and ecosystem function in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) systems, 23 April Dr Marc Pidou, AWMC, Hybrid membrane processes for wastewater treatment, 23 April Dr Ramon Ganigué Pagès, AWMC, Completely autotrophic nitrogen removal from urban landfill leachate, 30 April Ms Lauren Bragg, AWMC, Confirmation seminar: Development of computational and statistical methods for the analysis of microbial community sequence data, 7 May

Dr Bogdan Donose, AWMC, Atomic force microscopy, alpinism at nanoscale, 14 May Ms Hoai Tran, AWMC, Confirmation seminar: Physical and chemical investigations of corrosion processes in concrete sewer pipes, 25 May Dr Afreen Siddiqi, MIT, USA, Uncovering inter-system linkages for sustainable designs and decisions, 4 June Mr Mohamed Haroon, AWMC, Molecular characterisation of microbial communities performing anaerobic methane driven denitrification, 4 June Prof Zhiguo Yuan, AWMC, Fugitive greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater systems: AWMC research as part of a global effort, 11 June Dr Phil Bond, AWMC, Investigating the impact of pandemic levels of an antiviral drug on wastewater treatment, 11 June Mr Ronald Niermans and Mr Luc Kox, DHV, Australia, A new standard for sustainable and cost-effective waste water treatment, 25 June Dr Kristell Le Corre, AWMC, Understanding struvite crystallisation, 2 July Dr Liu Ye, AWMC, Optimization control of biological nitrogen removal process in saline wastewater treatment based on energy saving, 2 July Mr Arseto Bagastyo, AWMC, Electrochemical treatment of reverse osmosis concentrates, 30 July Ms Zuhaida Mohd-Zaki, AWMC, Effect of ph on product spectrum in mixed culture fermentation (MCF), 6 August Dr Elizabeth Baggs, University of Aberdeen, UK, Soil microbial sources of N2O: Current state of knowledge and future challenges, 6 August A/Prof Damien Batstone, AWMC, Anaerobic digestion of complex feeds: Perspectives & opportunities, 13 August Dr Steven Pratt, AWMC, Project NEPTUNE: Using biosolids as a resource for energy generation and biopolymer production, 13 August Prof Kenneth Nealson, University of Southern California, USA, Microbial ecology to bioproduction Symposium - Extracellular electron transport: What it is, what it means, and what it may mean when we understand it, 18 August Dr Phil Hugenholtz, Joint Genome Institute, USA, Microbial ecology to bioproduction Symposium - Boring spirochetes might be interesting for biofuel production, 18 August Dr Gene Tyson, AWMC, Microbial ecology to bioproduction Symposium - From meta’omics to single cell genomics, 18 August

Seminars Dr Ulrike Kappler, SCMB UQ, Microbial ecology to bioproduction Symposium - Stressed out? - Sulfur oxidising bacteria in soils, 18 August Prof Lars Nielsen, AIBN UQ, Microbial ecology to bioproduction Symposium - Microbial systems biology, 18 August Dr Peer Schenk, UQ, Microbial ecology to bioproduction Symposium - Algal selection for bioproduction, 18 August Dr Maria José Farré, AWMC, Disinfection by-products in the western corridor recycled water project context-results from my stay at the University of North Carolina, 20 August Dr Jelena Radjenovic, AWMC, Electrochemical oxidation of trace organic contaminants in reverse osmosis concentrate using RUO2/IRO2- coated titanium anodes, 20 August Prof Jurg Keller, AWMC, The case for resource recovery from wastewater – Still strong?, 27 August Dr Adriano Joss, Eawag, Switzerland, One year sabbatical at AWMC after ten years working at EAWAG, 27 August Mr Francois-Xavier Argaud, Universite Joseph Fourier, France, Advanced treatment of domestic wastewater treatment plant effluents with biofiltration: Removal of organic matter and reduction of disinfection by products formation potential, 10 September Dr Eugena Li, AWMC, Heterogeneous catalyzed transesterification for biodiesel production, 10 September Dr René Rozendal, AWMC, Bioelectrochemical systems: Past, present, and future, 17 September Dr Paul Dennis, AWMC, Unravelling the biology of engineered systems, 17 September Mr Ilje Pikaar, AWMC, Electrochemical sulfide abatement in sewers, 24 September Dr Gatut Sudarjanto, AWMC, Field and laboratory testing of chemical additives and biomaterials for H2S and odorous compounds control, 24 September Ms Yuting Pan, AWMC, Understanding nitrous oxide accumulation during denitrification in wastewater treatment, 1 October Mr Jeremy Barr, AWMC, Metatranscriptomic and metaproteomic comparison of floccular and granular sludges, 8 October Dr Shelley Brown, AWMC, How do microorganisms that are only capable of ‘direct electron transfer’ survive and multiply on a conductive surface? (A slightly provocative modelling approach), 8 October Dr Romain Lemaire, Veolia Water, France, Veolia research activities on advanced N-removal processes for N-rich sidestream effluents, 22 October

Dr Korneel Rabaey, AWMC, Microbial electrosynthesis: Electricity driven bioproduction, 22 October Mr Michael Imelfort, AWMC, A birds eye view of sequence assemblers, 29 October Prof Dong-Jin Kim, Hallym University, Korea, Biodegradaton of monoethanolamine (MEA) in a nuclear power plant wastewater, 29 October Mr Alexander Wise, AWMC, Electricity driven production of 1,3-propanediol by mixed populations, 5 November Dr Antony Joseph, AWMC, Elemental sulfur formation in concrete sewer pipes, 5 November Dr Florent Angly, AWMC, Viruses in the faecal microbiota of monozygotic twins and their mothers, 12 November Dr Keshab Sharma, AWMC, Kinetics of chemical sulfide oxidation under high dissolved oxygen levels, 12 November Dr Guangming Jiang, AWMC, Control of sulfide and methane production in sewers using nitrate and nitrite, 19 November Dr Julien Reungoat, AWMC, Removal of organic micropollutants from WWTP effluents in reclamation plants using the ozonation/biological activated carbon process, 19 November Prof Gerard Muyzer, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, Ecology and biotechnology of haloalkaliphilic sulfur bacteria, 26 November Dr Robbert Kleerebezem, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, Microbial community engineering (MCE) for bioplastic production, 26 November Dr Andrea Radu, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, Modelling of biofouling in reverse osmosis membrane processes, 30 November Prof Roger Ben Aim, Institute Nationale Scientifique Applique, France, Membrane fouling in MBR: trying to understand, 3 December Dr Virginie Rossard, National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), France, R software - your data deserves the best!, 10 December Ms Chrystelle Ayache, AWMC, Assessment of the impact of the biological pre-treatment on membrane fouling and micropollutant rejection, 13 December Dr Rupak Aryal, AWMC, Dynamic behaviour of suspended solids and particle-associated micropollutants in highway runoff, 17 December Mr Subash Sukumar, AWMC, Reverse osmosis membranes performance in accelerated ageing, 17 December

Advanced Water Management Centre Level 4 Gehrmann Building (60) Research Road, St. Lucia Campus The University of Queensland Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia Telephone: +61 7 3365 4730 Facsimile: +61 7 3365 4726 Website: www.awmc.uq.edu.au Email: awmc@awmc.uq.edu.au