This year’s IWA Biofilm Reactor Conference was held virtually Dec. 6-8. Fluence Corporation was a gold sponsor, hosting a booth and participating in talks and workshops.
Here are our highlights from this year’s IWA Biofilm Reactor Conference 2021
Every year, the International Water Association (IWA) and University of Notre Dame present the IWA Biofilm Reactor Conference to bring together academics, industry members, consultants, and representatives of utilities to discuss topics ranging from fundamental research to full-scale implementation. The conference addresses biofilm technologies, from the well-established to the up-and-coming, as well as potential future developments.
Due to COVID-19, this year’s conference was held virtually December 6-8. Fluence Corporation was a gold sponsor, hosting a booth and participating in talks and workshops. We hope you were able to tune in. If not, here are some highlights.
Saturday, Dec. 4
Gilad Yogev, Senior MABR Product Manager at Fluence, participated in a pre-conference workshop — “Fundamentals and New Developments in MABR Technology” — along with other industry experts including Glen Daigger, University of Michigan; Dwight Houweling, Dynamita; Robert Nerenberg, University of Notre Dame; Jeff Guild, Bluetech Research; Barry Heffernan, Oxymem; and Jeff Peeters, Suez.
Panelists discussed state-of-the-art and emerging applications for MABR technology. Yogev’s breakout session included two interesting talks: Tal Elad of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) spoke about potential benefits of intermittent aeration from lab-scale MABR experiences, and Professor Jianhua Guo of the University of Queensland, Australia, spoke about his group’s research journey in methane-based biofilm reactors (MBfRs).
Monday, Dec. 6
Lotan Dagai, Vice President of MABR Excellence at Fluence, spoke about “Treatment of Supernatant From a Thermophilic Anaerobic Digester Using a Full-Scale Spirally Wound MABR.” Dagai summarized a year of shortcut nitrogen removal trials at the Akko wastewater treatment plant in Israel, after which Fluence launched Nitro, its MABR-based shortcut nitrogen removal solution.
Lotan Dagai discusses shortcut nitrogen removal trials with conference attendees.
Tuesday, Dec. 7
Gilad Yogev gave a live presentation, “Lessons Learned From 150 MABR Plants Deployed.” From China to Jamaica, from Israel to the United States, Fluence has learned many valuable lessons from its vast installation base of containerized, concrete, and retrofit MABR plants.
Gilad Yogev gives presentation to attendants at IWA Biofilm Reactor Conference 2021.
Next Year in Thailand
The conference was a great opportunity to share knowledge about MABR with others passionate about the topic. Thank you to Rob Nerenberg and his team at Notre Dame for organizing a tremendously interesting and insightful conference. Next year’s conference — “Processes in Biofilms: Fundamentals to Applications” — is slated for December 6-8, 2022, in Phuket, Thailand.
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