MAE/EQS STAR Center Seminar - Waste to Energy Conversion using Bioelectrochemical Systems

September 21, 2:15-3:10pm - Watson Theatre, Watson Hall


Presented by the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the EQS STAR Center for Environmental Quality Systems Seminar[1]

Waste to Energy Conversion using Bioelectrochemical Systems

Date and Time: Friday, September 21, 2012, 2:15-3:10, Watson Theatre, Watson Hall

by
Douglas F. Call, Assistant Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Syracuse University

Abstract

Our wastewater infrastructure is aging and in desperate need of repair, or alternatively, reinvention.
The status quo is no longer a viable option due to the high energy demands for traditional treatment processes, outdated treatment facilities, and dwindling natural resources of energy, nutrients, and water, all of which are contained in wastewater. Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) exemplify a new approach for wastewater treatment in which energy is extracted rather than invested. Through the direct biological conversion of biodegradable material into electrical current, BESs generate electricity, biogas (hydrogen, methane), desalinated water, and high-value chemicals (hydrogen peroxide, caustic). In this seminar, I will introduce the
fundamentals of BESs, with a focus on wastewater treatment applications. I will discuss how we have previously developed scalable reactors for treatment at large scales and also at small scales to better understand the bacteria that power these devices.


Bio

Douglas Call received a BS degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia in 2003 and soon after realized that his passion for sustainability would lead him to the field of engineering. He received a second BS degree in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2005 and then began his graduate studies in microbial fuel cells at Penn State University. After completing his MS in 2008, he spent a year abroad as a visiting researcher in the lab of Tim Vogel at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France. Returning to Penn State, he finished his PhD in the summer of 2011 and continued as a postdoctoral researcher at Penn State in the same topical area. He joined the faculty at Syracuse University in the summer of 2012.





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