SBIR-STTR Award

Over the past decade the demand for water reuse has been increasing due to growing populations water scarcity and the impacts of climate change. The agricultural industry is one of the major consumers of fresh water. In addition to water for irrigation significant water use is exhibited in the processing of agricultural products. For example the demand for fresh and fresh-cut(minimally processed) fruits and vegetables has risen considerably. To reduce the possibility of pathogen contamination and improve product safety fresh produce providers have long use dchlorine disinfection in post-harvest processing. While chlorine is an effective disinfection agent against a broad range of microorganisms high levels of organic compounds from soil and vegetable debris lead to excessive and varying chlorine demands which can deteriorate wash water quality and safety and frustrate efforts to implement water reuse technologies. The problem of low wash water quality is underscored by two national challenges. First severe freshwater scarcity in the nation's agricultural regions has driven ongoing efforts to adopt sustainable water practices through water reuse. The fresh produce industry is among the highest agricultural users of water yet low wash water quality diminishes the ability for manufacturers to safely reuse wash water more than a few times. Second cross-contamination by pathogens continues to pose an outsized risk to the multi-billion-dollar fresh and fresh-cut produce industry. Low wash water quality not only enhances the likelihood of this devastating food safety risk but also complicates the mitigation of pathogens on fresh produce due to dynamic and sometimes unpredictable chlorine demands in post-harvest processing. This project develops and evaluates a new biocatalyst-based technology process for achieving low- cost water reuse with particular emphasis in fresh and fresh-cut produce operations. Building on promising preliminary results the proposed technology process leverages engineered biocatalytic composites to safely and rapidly reduce the levels of dissolved organic and inorganic compounds in wash water under very low temperatures without contributing solids or secondary wastes to the wash water. The proposed technology therefore substantially enhances the energy efficiency and robustness of an integrated filtration and membrane-based water treatment unit to provide high quality recycled water that substantially mitigates the risk of pathogens. It is anticipated that this proposed technology process will substantially reduce the cost barrier for adopting water reuse practices across a range of agricultural sectors thereby contributing to increased food safety and furthering sustainable water reuse processes across our nation's agricultural industry.