SBIR-STTR Award

Triangle Environmental proposes a compact, modular system for rapid, fully-automated treatment of domestic greywater for non-potable onsite reuse. There is an expected 40% global shortfall between supply and demand of water by 2030. The current standard of household water use, in which potable water is used for all applications, is therefore unsustainable. Alternate water sources can be used for a variety of non-potable uses within and outside a building. Replacing just the demand for toilet flushing with non-potable water can offset approximately 25% of the total potable water use in a residential building, and up to 75% in a commercial building. Other potential non?potable demands include irrigation, cooling/heating applications, process water, and clothes washing. This project focuses on modifying a technology already well-developed for onsite blackwater treatment towards rapid greywater treatment and implementing it at the household scale for applications with a high likelihood of rapid adoption (toilet flushing and laundry), thereby reducing household consumption of potable water by ~40% (73,000 L per year for a family of four). Preliminary data demonstrates the feasibility of using this three-stage treatment process for greywater; the studies in this Phase I proposal are aimed at making specific modifications to each subprocess to 1) increase energy efficiency and lower operating cost, 2) specify design parameters for greywater applications to improve component performance and lifetime, and 3) ensure reliability of the disinfection process. Global water recycling and reuse markets were projected to double from $12.2 billion in 2016 to $22.3 billion in 2021. Greywater reuse regulations in the United States are expanding to allow for more onsite non-potable reuse applications driven by the increasing pressure on water resources. The proposed greywater system provides an in?residence, on-demand alternative to existing cost-prohibitive and high-maintenance greywater treatment systems. In addition, many of these existing decentralized greywater treatment systems are installed in rural or peri-urban areas where there is greater access to land for larger footprint systems. Therefore, there is a quickly emerging market opportunity for an appliance-like greywater treatment system that can be utilized by residences and businesses in dense, urban settings.

A 40% shortfall in the global freshwater supply is expected by 2030, which makes using potable water forall household applications unsustainable. Using safe, non-potable alternative water sources for usesincluding toilet flushing, irrigation, and laundry can significantly reduce the stress on the potable watersupply.Our system supports the effort to conserve potable water by offering a product that rapidly treatsdomestic greywater (non-toilet wastewater) at the point of generation for non-potable onsite reuse.Innovation in this system derives from a novel integration of well-characterized treatment subsystemsinto a unique treatment chain, adapting considerable R&D in onsite wastewater treatment for the specificapplication of household greywater treatment with the footprint and cost of a household appliance.Feasibility was demonstrated in Phase I by studies that identified the subsystem-level key componentselection, sizing, and operating parameters required to achieve the desired reductions of organic content,suspended solids, and bacteria in real and simulated household greywater streams. These results alsoenabled us to develop a preliminary cost model for single-household and commercial building scale units.However, the primarytarget market is made up of those with an experienced need for water reuse andcurrently experiencing pain points with their water supply. The three major drivers for this target marketare 1) threatened water supply, 2) regulatory requirements, and 3) cost. An example for this need are the1.4 - 4.6 million households with private wells that are at risk of running dry while a parallelenvironmentally conscious “early adopter” market is exemplified by the ~2.7 million US households with solar power systems. Ultimately, the potential market for this technology is every home and building thatuses water. The current competitive landscape consists of a very limited number of household greywatertreatment products that are generally either much larger for a given capacity, rely on biological treatment, and/or are much more complex than our system. Successful large-scale commercialization of this technology will reduce demand for potable water and stress on existing infrastructure and enable more sustainable management of limited water resources.