Grant: Engage Grants Program

High strength organic wastewater treatment is challenging to small-to medium-sized industry, mainly due to financial limitations. Most of municipalities in Canada have managed industrial wastewater generated from such industry with surcharge programs, which requests the industry to pay fees for wastewater discharge into sewers. These surcharge fees in downstream wastewater management seem to add supplementary financial burdens to the industry that can struggle with the growth of upstream manufacturing processes. To help the development of small-to medium-sized industry and protect water environment in Canada, there is a need for economical treatment processes to high-strength organic wastewater. The objective of this research is to evaluate a new combined treatment process of a fluidized-bed anaerobic digester and Waterloo Biofilter to clean winery wastewater in economical ways. Through this project, Waterloo Biofilter Systems can expand wastewater market in Ontario and Canada. It is expected that the success of developing this new technology can help improve human health and clean water environment across Canada.