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Energy Optimization

For most water facilities, energy is one of the highest costs in their operating budget. Stricter regulations are pushing facilities to use even more advanced—and energy-intensive—treatment technologies. Optimizing energy use can provide huge cost savings and numerous additional benefits, including improving air quality, protecting the environment, and bolstering energy security. WRF has published more than 100 projects that explore ways to not only optimize current energy use, but to generate power as well—setting the course for a self-sufficient water sector.

Topic Overview (PDF)
77 Projects 9 Web Tools 4 Case Studies 9 Webcasts
Integrated Planning & Water Management
Resource Recovery
Anaerobic Digestion
Innovation
Project #4718

Battery Storage System Guidance for Water and Wastewater Utilities

$110,001
Completed

Project Highlights

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are increasingly being considered by water and wastewater utilities to capture the full energy potential of onsite distributed energy resources (DERs) and achieve cost savings. As new BESS technologies emerge, however, questions about applications, economy...

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Principal Investigator
Carla
Cherchi
Research Manager
Mr. Ashwin Dhanasekar

Energy is Embedded in Wastewater

This video discusses a suite of past WRF research co-funded by the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA), which focused on barriers to and strategies for energy optimization at water resource recovery facilities. 

Recent Updates

Project #5037
Evaluation of Existing Source Separated Organic Feedstock Pre-Treatment...

Reporting Period: March 1, 2020 – August 31, 2020. The project team spent the first six...

Project Update
10/30/2020
Project #4974
Holistic Approach to Improved Nutrient ...

Reporting Period: September 18, 2019 - August 20, 2020. The three in-person workshops have been reformulated...

Project Update
09/23/2020
Project #4915
Characterization and Contamination Testing of Source Separated Organic...

Reporting Period: January 1 – April 1, 2020. During this project period, progress was made on...

Project Update
09/02/2020
Project #4666
Case Study Compilation on Applying Risk Management Principles and Innovative...

The goal of this research is to develop case studies on strategies and tools for applying...

Project Update
07/10/2019

News

WRF Announces 2020 Paul L. Busch Award Winner 

Press Release
10/01/2020

$100K Research Prize Will Advance Innovative Water Separation Technologies The Water Research Foundation announced today that Dr. Shihong Lin is the recipient of the 2020 Paul L. Busch $100,000 research...

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Resources

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Related Projects

Project #4788

State of the Science and Issues Related to Heat Recovery from Wastewater

Completed

This research explores the feasibility of recovering thermal energy from sewage, and what the state of current technology is for doing so, It is the first step identifying...

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Project #1416

Pathways to Energy Neutrality: Victor Valley Regional Water Reclamation Facility, California

Completed

This informative 13-page factsheet documents VVRWRF’s journey from aging facility with outdated infrastructure to one that incorporated energy neutrality as a utility-wide goal, allowing it to be named...

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Project #1415

Assessment of Technology Advancements for Future Energy Reduction

Completed

This research reviews 18 areas of emerging technology that have the potential to reduce the need for purchased energy and could improve the wastewater industry’s ability to beneficially...

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Project #5062

A Distributed Renewable Energy Opportunities and Policy Workshop

In Progress

This project will build on the results of project 4625 by holding a science to policy workshop connecting research, industry, and policy. It will bring together various partners...

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Project #4843

Integrating Sewage Thermal Energy Use (STEU) and Other Emerging Water-Energy-Waste Technologies into Decentralized/Distributed Systems

In Progress

The primary objective of this research is to organize and analyze information on sewage thermal energy use (STEU) and other emerging water-energy-waste technologies, including techno-economic analysis of these...

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Project #4900

Unlocking the Potential of Mixed-Microbial Fermentation for Enhancing Carbonaceous Resource Recovery from Organic "Wastes"

In Progress

Recovery of commodity materials from wastewater is a key function of water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) of the future, in which wastewater treatment is coupled with recovery of...

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Related Topics

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Resource Recovery

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Anaerobic Digestion

Link

Integrated Planning & Water Management

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Utility Management

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