UASB Team Ideas on Application & Future Research After "Engineering in Context," Trip to Honduras

[lydialagorga]

Complications with UASB application:
-Methane capture for use may not be easily applicable: (larger 42L/s wastewater treatment facility in Gracias Lempira, Honduras, burns off their production)
-Wastewater treatment is not a top priority for many small, rural communities: (education on why we treat wastewater is crucial for implementation)
-Size of reactor will be important and we will likely need a method for variation with different flow rates, or organic loading rates

Unanswered Questions:
-Could this technology serve a more consistent and economically supported process? (Such as waste treatment in the coffee production industry)
-Could we look to places within the US to implement? (Technologies that meet EPA standards in the United States may help defeat some criticism of lesser design efficiencies being applied in the Majority world.)
-Could string digester play a larger role in the treatment process?

General Takeaways:
-Variability on the small scale will fluctuate a lot (Further down the road we need to find the upper and lower limits of what our design can handle)
-Temperature is critical for both testing in the lab, and in the regions UASB could be applicable
-We can treat wastewater better for social contexts that we understand

01-18-2020