Marie Curie Host Fellowships for the Transfer of Knowledge (ToK)Development Host SchemeBiological processes are widely used for environmental protection and to deliver the aims of sustainable development. Such processes are used in wastewater treatment, treatment of solid wastes and for the production of renewable biofuels including hydrogen. The use of these processes is increasing, however their future growth will tend to be via more locally distributed technologies whilst the expertise to manage these processes efficiently is becoming increasingly more centralised. To allow this expertise to be used across greater geographical areas remote monitoring and control technologies need to be developed and promoted. To deliver this goal of effective remote monitoring and control a number of areas of expertise have to be brought together. The successful utilisation of biological processes for environmental protection and gaseous biofuels production requires better fundamental scientific and technical understanding of these processes so that a reliable and cost effective system can be more widely implemented. This Transfer of Knowledge project addresses these issues in two areas in particular. Sustainable hydrogen production will in future be part of Distributed Energy Networks (DER) for the EU as identified in the 6th Environmental Action plan: Priority area Natural Resources and Waste and the Sustainable Energy Thematic Priority under FP6. The production of hydrogen from renewable biomass using fermentable and non-fermentable routes will be CO2 neutral, involve decentralised production and will have a positive effect on rural and isolated communities throughout Europe and elsewhere. The increasing pressure on water resources in Europe, as identified within the 6th Environmental Action Plan and coupled with the need to meet new regulatory standards as set out in the Water Framework Directive require novel technologies to enhance wastewater treatment. These improvements in wastewater treatment aimed at compliance with IPPC will require better monitoring and control. Enhanced management of these processes through remote monitoring and control will lead to improved health, quality of life, wealth creation and preservation of the environment. This requires a multi-disciplinary approach with disciplines including, computing, bioprocess engineering, sensor technology, and computer modelling, together with supervisory control engineering, microbial community analysis and analytical-toxicology. The Sustainable Environment Research Centre (SERC) through its two research units the Waste Water Treatment Research Unit (WWTRU) and the Hydrogen Research Unit (HRU) is already recognised as a leader in the areas of fermentative bio-hydrogen production and of wastewater treatment. However it needs to enhance expertise in three new areas supervisory control engineering, molecular biology (microbial community analysis, genomics and proteomics) and analytical-toxicology. Project ObjectivesThe objective of the knowledge transfer is to better understand the fundamentals of these biological processes used to produce gaseous biofuels and to protect water resources. This knowledge will then be utilised to develop improved management strategies and implemented in remote monitoring and control strategies delivering improved delivery of these distributed technologies. This project will achieve 3 knowledge transfer objectives within the time span of the project: These are:
Such knowledge transfer will help the SERC in developing a methodology utilising information network systems to produce a robust intelligent agent based hierarchical monitoring and control system that can be used remotely. In this project the technology and expertise transferred will be applied to the following areas, the monitoring and control of gaseous biofuels including biohydrogen production and the monitoring and control of anaerobic and aerobic wastewater treatment systems. |
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