Progress 08/01/19 to 12/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:During Phase I, Micronic Technologies demonstrated a revolutionary wastewater cleaning technology based on a tornadic flow process. During the program, a laboratory prototype unit (ME1A) explored a near zero liquid discharge (ZLD) capability of this technology, producing a concentrated slurry from high Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) influent wastewater streams. Before submission of the Phase I proposal, Micronic engineers considered this water purification technology as revolutionary in its effectiveness across a broad range of contaminants and a wide range of applications. However, it was realized that to ensure the success of a start-up business model, the company would initially have to focus on a very specific target audience. As a result, for the Phase I effort, the program Investigators choose to pursue a target audience and associated market in the cheese production industry. This rationale was based on the significant wastewater issues faced by cheese production facilities. For each ton of raw milk processed, depending on the product, the dairy industry generates anywhere from over 100 gallons to nearly 16,000 gallons of wastewater (Fluence, 2020) and producing 1 pound of cheese leaves 9 pounds of whey as a byproduct (Danovich, 2018). In fact, the dairy industry is considered one of the most polluting components of the food industry due to the large volume of wastewater it generates as compared to associated water consumption (Paçal et al., 2019). In general dairy production, the main contaminants are organic (e.g., carbohydrates, fats, proteins, etc.). More specifically, in cheese production, a substantial component of the waste product is whey. It is considered a significant pollutant due to its high organic load. Geiling (2016) states... "Whey leftover from the cheese-making process is not an easy product to dispose of. High in phosphorus and nitrogen, it can't be dumped into water sources - like fertilizers, an excess of whey could lead to things like dead zones and algal blooms. Domestic environmental regulations also restrict the amount of whey that can be spread across land - in the top cheese-producing states of Wisconsin and New York, the application of whey to land is regulated by government agencies, and farmers are required to limit the amount they apply. In California, whey regulations have been so burdensome for some producers that they've been forced to shutter their cheese-making operations. Imperial Valley Cheese, the state's last producer of Swiss and Muenster cheeses, shuttered its doors in 2013, citing a lack of financially feasible disposal options for their whey." Guerreiro et al. (2020) note that overall, making cheese manufacturing environmentally sustainable is a major concern in the industry due to the significant environmental impact from the discharge of manufacturing wastewater. These streams carry heavy loads of salinity, nutrients, organic matter, solids and oils and fats. In addition, such discharges are meeting increasingly stringent quality requirements. With the decision by Micronic to pursue the cheese manufacturing market as the Phase I target audience, the Investigators partnered with Grande Cheese on the Phase I technical effort. With annual revenues over $500 million and over 1,000 employees, Grande is a major cheese producer in the state of Wisconsin. Grande Cheese provided in-kind services and sample wastewater for testing during the Phase I effort. As noted earlier, Grande Cheese is one of the largest cheese manufacturers in Wisconsin. Grande, like most midwestern companies that use water, "freely" pumps it out of the ground, uses it, treats it, and discharges it to a small creek where it eventually ends up in the Gulf of Mexico. Grande's two largest cheese and whey plants each pull 500,000 gallons of water out of the ground every day. This is typical for plants of this size. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Micronic has established a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the goal of testing a commercial unit as part of the Phase III commercialization effort. The Lead on the CRADA is Dr. Leland Vane. Dr. Vane has been provided the details of all testing so he might develop protocols for further testing at EPA. In addition, Pat Cardif, Sr., the Environmental Manager at Grande Cheese, has also been apprised of the testing results. p { line-height: 115%; text-align: left; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin-bottom: 0.1in; direction: ltr; background: transparent }a:link { text-decoration: underline } What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The goal of the Phase I research and development was to conduct a water testing program with Wisconsin-based Grande Cheese using an ME1™ system upgraded to an ME1A™ variant for application to cleaning and enabling the reuse of cheese processing wastewater. Objective 1: Determine if MicroEVAP™ concentrates wastewater streams from the cheese manufacturing process sufficiently to improve water conservation and significantly reduce discharge to the environment. Work on this objective focused on the design, fabrication, assembly, and trial operation of a laboratory proof-of-concept unit. The goal of this effort was to demonstrate the feasibility of the Pod tornadic evaporation concept in a near Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) configuration. Toward this end, system development was initially founded on a base MicroEVAP™ design. This ME1™ variant of the technology represents the core elements of the tornadic technology concept with the addition of connected intercoolers for heat transfer between the blower and secondary condenser. Work during this objective accomplished two key goals. First was the upgrading of the base ME1™ system and second was the expansion of the unit to support near-ZLD. This variant was designated ME1A™ . The upgrading of the ME1™ base unit included the replacement of all gaskets and the upgrading of the secondary heat exchanger with a new design that included additional surface area and a stainless-steel casing. The on-board tanks were redesigned, and new foam insulation was milled and installed. The water level sensors were replaced, and a new two-stage separator design was implemented. To accomplish the near-ZLD capability, waste recirculation tanks were designed, fabricated, and installed; and flow sensors were upgraded. The key elements of the upgraded unit included the addition of a pump driven waste concentration recirculation subsystem. This subsystem controls the mixing of the influent and concentrate recycling stream and provides increasingly concentrated "wash water" (i.e., the stream of liquid which transports separated contaminants out of the Pod. To increase the level of contaminants entering the Pod, the system decreases influent flow and increases concentrate recycle flow. In addition to the development and implementation of a near-ZLD subsystem, work on Phase I also addressed the design and fabrication of a two-stage separator subsystem. Objective 2: Determine if MicroEVAP™ clean water is suitable for reuse in the cheese manufacturing process. The key focus of historical testing of the ME1™ technology was against a range of controlled NaCl concentration samples to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proof-of-concept system. It was shown that the ME1™ technology concept appears to be effective against NaCl solutions with reduction percentages ranging from 96% to nearly 100%. The next step in the testing effort entailed expansion of the NaCl samples to a wide range of contaminant profiles. The results of this effort provided further verification of the purification performance when the ME1™ system was run against this uncontrolled sample set. The results of this testing demonstrated the MicroEVAP™ technology to be effective against a broad spectrum of constituents with reduction percentages in most cases nearing 100%. Following the ME1™ testing program, testing of the upgraded ME1A™ system variant was conducted. The ME1A™ upgrade was run against a range of uncontrolled contaminated wastewater. The results of one such test highlighted two issues which will need to be addressed in future system variants; namely, mass balance verification and system materials leaching. Overall, ME1A™ was able to confirm the purification capabilities of the MicroEVAP™ technology. Objective 3: Determine the financial and environmental return on investment, considering operating and capital costs. Phase I work on commercialization strategies identified a broad series of market drivers, the main impetuses being diminishing global freshwater resources and rising agricultural water demands. The dairy industry's requirement for wastewater treatment solutions is expanding as the global market segments for milk, cheese, and ice cream are all expected to grow within the next several years. Conversely, several barriers to market entry were also identified, the main barrier being a hesitancy by dairy manufacturers to take on the risk of a new technology without a prior field-proven operational demonstration unit. This issue highlights the mutually beneficial and necessary partnership Micronic has developed with Grande Cheese, a company willing to consult and participate in the development of Micronic's water purification technology before a field unit is demonstrated. The identified market drivers and market entry barriers suggest possible commercialization strategies. To develop a strong customer base Micronic will need to pursue significant industry outreach to improve awareness of the technology and emphasize the unique and advanced nature of the tornadic concept as well as the inherent "one step" approach to water purification. Cost investigations indicated that the MicroEVAP™ technology supported up to an 88% reduction in capital expenditures (CAPEX) as compared to competitive technologies and up to a 67% reduction in operating expenses (OPEX). Objective 4: Determine if MicroEVAP™ concentrate from RO retentate wastewater stream and produced water is suitable for animal feed. Once MicroEVAP™ purification performance was verified, during Objective 2, testing across a broad range of contaminant profiles, work on this Objective 4 focused on testing cheese brine samples provided by Grande Cheese. The protocol included collecting the source brine and the product several times during a run and collecting the accumulated waste mixture at the end. In general, reverse osmosis (RO) retentate tends to be low TDS while cheese brine is high TDS. Overall, these results show the efficacy of the MicroEVAP™ technology. The source (concentrated cheese brine) with an estimated TDS in the range of 267 - 286 g/L is converted into a product with more than 99.8% of the TDS removed. Calcium and potassium concentrations are reduced to less than 0.5% of their original value. Ammonia concentrations are reduced to 7 to 10% of their original value. The reduced ability to remove ammonia likely arises from the volatility of this substance; it can travel with the water vapor to the condenser. Objective 5: Determine the amounts and types of solids for animal feed including fats, proteins, carbohydrates and dissolved minerals in the MicroEVAP™ concentrate stream. Having demonstrated the performance of MicroEVAP™ technology when run specifically against cheese brine and RO retentate in the previous Objective 4, work on this objective addressed individual components in cheese brine wastewater. Accordingly testing addressed: Physical Parameters including total solids, total dissolved solids (TDS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and conductivity; Metals including Sodium, Potassium, and Calcium; Fats including Fats, Oils, and Grease (FOG); and Nitrogen including Total Nitrogen, Nitrogen (TKN), Ammonium (NH4), and Nitrate (NO3). Third party laboratory product analysis reported >99% reduction of metals, COD and solids. Total dissolved solids (TDS) were reduced to below drinking water maximum level of 500ppm.

Publications

Progress 08/01/20 to 07/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:During Phase I, Micronic Technologies is demonstraring a revolutionary wastewater cleaning technology based on a tornadic flow process. During the program, a laboratory prototype unit (ME1A) demonstrated a near zero liquid discharge (ZLD) capability of this technology, producing a concentrated slurry from high Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) influent wastewater streams. Before submission of the Phase I proposal, Micronic engineers recognized that this water purification technology is revolutionary in its effectiveness across a broad range of contaminants and a wide range of applications. However, it was realized that to ensure the success of a start-up business model, the company would initially have to focus on a very specific target audience. As a result, for the Phase I effort, the program Investigators choose to pursue a target audience and associated market in the cheese production industry. This rationale was based on the significant wastewater issues faced by cheese production facilities. For each ton of raw milk processed, depending on the product, the dairy industry generates anywhere from over 100 gallons to nearly 16,000 gallons of wastewater (Fluence, 2020) and producing 1 pound of cheese leaves 9 pounds of whey as a byproduct (Danovich, 2018). In fact, the dairy industry is considered one of the most polluting components of the food industry due to the large volume of wastewater it generates as compared to associated water consumption (Paçal et al., 2019). In general dairy production, the main contaminants are organic (e.g., carbohydrates, fats, proteins, etc.). More specifically, in cheese production, a substantial component of the waste product is whey. It is considered a significant pollutant due to its high organic load. Geiling (2016) states... "Whey leftover from the cheese-making process is not an easy product to dispose of. High in phosphorus and nitrogen, it can't be dumped into water sources?-?like fertilizers, an excess of whey could lead to things like dead zones and algal blooms. Domestic environmental regulations also restrict the amount of whey that can be spread across land?-?in the top cheese-producing states of Wisconsin and New York, the application of whey to land is regulated by government agencies, and farmers are required to limit the amount they apply. In California, whey regulations have been so burdensome for some producers that they've been forced to shutter their cheese-making operations. Imperial Valley Cheese, the state's last producer of Swiss and Muenster cheeses, shuttered its doors in 2013, citing a lack of financially feasible disposal options for their whey." Guerreiro et al. (2020) note that overall, making cheese manufacturing environmentally sustainable is a major concern in the industry due to the significant environmental impact from the discharge of manufacturing wastewater. These streams carry heavy loads of salinity, nutrients, organic matter, solids and oils and fats. In addition, such discharges are meeting increasingly stringent quality requirements. With the decision by Micronic to pursue the cheese manufacturing market as the Phase I target audience, the Investigators partnered with Grande Cheese on the Phase I technical effort. With annual revenues over $500 million and over 1,000 employees, Grande is a major cheese producer in the state of Wisconsin. References: Fluence (2020, April 20). Generating Power from Dairy Waste. https://www.fluencecorp.com/generating-power-from-dairy-waste/ Geiling, Natasha. (2016, January 8). Electricity From Cheese Is Possible - And Happening Around The World. https://thinkprogress.org/electricity-from-cheese-is-possible-and-happening-around-the-world-6c1f0792ef36/ Guerreiro, R. C., Jerónimo, E., Luz, S., Pinheiro, H. M., & Prazeres, A. R. (2020). Cheese manufacturing wastewater treatment by combined physicochemical processes for reuse and fertilizer production. Journal of environmental management, 264, 110470. Paçal, Müge, Semerci, Neslihan, Çall?, Bar??. (2019). Treatment of synthetic wastewater and cheese whey by the anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactor. Environmental Science & Pollution Research, 09441344, Nov 2019, Vol. 26, Issue 32. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Micronic's Cooperative R&D Agreement (CRADA) collaborator, EPA - Dr. Leland Vane, has been provided the details of all testing so he might develop testing protocols for further testing at EPA. Pat Cardif, Sr. Environmental Manager at Grande Cheese has also been apprised of the testing results. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, Micronic plans to continue to develop the commercialization market strategy.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the last reporting period, the ME-1 pilot was upgraded to ME-1A to explore its near Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) capabilities, which eliminated the normal waste stream and concentrated the contaminants in a fixed volume of water. The MicroEVAP™ system was shown to reduce influent volume by more than 95% with the capability to achieve near ZLD. Third party laboratory product analyses reported >99% reduction of metals, solids, and chemical oxygen demand (COD), an indicator of the amount of oxygen consumed by organic matter in the waste stream. The focus of work during the last reporting period was the demonstration of a proof-of-concept system and preliminary performance testing of the system against a range of brine concentrations. The focus of this reporting period has been on a review of the ME1A design for implementation in Phase II of the program and an initial assessment of commercialization potential. Based on the results of system performance testing, it has been determined that a Phase II system design will require more efficient supporting subsystems for condensation and product recovery. These design changes will be developed and implemented in Phase II of the program. During this reporting period, the ME-1A design was modified to enhance brine recirculation flow and prevent clogging. Preliminary work on commercialization strategies, has identified a broad series of market drivers, the main impetuses being diminishing global freshwater resources and rising agricultural water demands. The dairy industry's requirement for wastewater treatment solutions is expanding as the global market segments for milk, cheese, and ice cream are all expected to grow within the next several years. Conversely, several barriers to market entry were also identified, the main barrier being a hesitancy by dairy manufacturers to take on the risk of a new technology without a prior field-proven and currently operational demonstration given the inherent financial instability of the diary market. This issue highlights the mutually beneficial and necessary partnership Micronic has developed with Grande Cheese, a company willing to consult and participate in the development of Micronic's water purification technology before a field unit is demonstrated. The identified market drivers and market entry barriers suggest possible commercialization strategies. As would be expected, the initial dairy industry customer base will most likely be in California, Wisconsin, Idaho, New York, and Texas, where the majority of U.S. milk and cheese production occurs. Of course this further supports Micronic's partnership with Grande Cheese whose operations are located in Wisconsin. To develop a strong customer base Micronic will need to pursue significant industry outreach to improve awareness of the technology and emphasize the unique and advanced nature of the tornadic concept as well as the inherent "one step" approach to water purification. Of course, the Phase I effort sets a preliminary roadmap to commercialization which will be further defined and expanded in Phase II of the program.

Publications

Progress 08/01/19 to 07/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience: EPA, as part of our Cooperative R&D agreement, has been keen to understand and analyze our Phase I test data to conduct test planning to be conducted in their Cinncinatti test facilty. Grande Cheese, our first customer, is evaluating the test results to assess the integration of our technology into their Wisconsin facility. Symbiont, an engineering firm specializing in the cheese and other food markets;and Micronic are engaged in a partnership for them to design our wastewater system into their customer treatment solutions. Symbiont is conducting a deep technical evaluation of our design, mass balance, and energy projections to consider customer interest. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Micronic's Cooperative R&D Agreement (CRADA) collaborator, EPA - Dr. Leland Vane, has been provided the details of all testing so he might develop testing protocols for further testing at EPA. Pat Cardif, Sr. Environmental Manager at Grande Cheese, our first cusotmer, has also been proivded detailed test results. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the Cheese Brine testing phase the ME-1A experienced a clog caused by insufficient brine recirculation flow. The plumbing has been modified to provide more flow and the remainig Cheese Brine sample will be retested and reported upon.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The ME-1 pilot was upgraded to ME-1A to explore its Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) capabilities, which eliminated the normal waste stream and concentrated the contaminants in a fixed volume of water. The clean product water stream has approximately the same volume as the influent stream so there was no brine stream to measure. Now with the ZLD approach the ME-1A can be configured to provide a brine stream concentration to meetcustomer requirements. MicroEVAP™ was shown to reduce influent volume by more than 95% with the capability to achieve ZLD. Recent evaluation showed up to 88 percent reduced CAPEX of MicroEVAP™ over the competition and up to 67 percent reduced OPEX of MicroEVAP™ over the competition. Companies that do not treat wastewater onsite must resort to trucking wastewater to treatment facilities. Compared to companies that do notincur a capital investment, on a per gallon basis, MicroEVAP™ is at least 50 percent less costly. In the cheese brining process all of the retentate and product water will be reused in the brining process and will significantly reduce water pulled from the aquifer, virtually eliminating waste disposal from that process. Third party laboratory product analysis reported >99% reduction of metals, COD, and solids. Total dissolved solids (TDS) were reducedto below drinking water maximum level of 500ppm. Source Sample: Cheese Brine Set 1 Total Solids mg/l TDS mg/l BOD mg/l COD mg/l Conductivity umhos/cm Source 282,432 263,088 3.69 13,700 505,200 Product 110 796 3.14 186 160 % Reduction 99.96% 99.69 % 14% 98.64% 99.97% Set 2 Source 285,360 260,656 3.70 14,520 488,700 Product 160 104 14.1 320 7,400 %Reduction 99.94% 99.96% unknown 97.79% 98.48% Waste 306,896 315,632 5.05 26,100 542,400 Set 1 Sodium mg/l Potassium mg/l Calcium mg/l FOG mg/l Source 105,600 811 994 BDL Product 13.1 7.41 0.950 3.60* % Reduction 99.98% 99.13% 99.87% unknown Set 2 Source 104,600 904 989 BDL Product 14.7 0.662 0.458* 3.10* % Reduction 99.98% 99.93% 99.95% unknown Waste 108,000 4360 1183 4.00 Set 1 Total Nitrogen mg/l - N Nitrogen, TKN mg/l Ammonium, NH4 mg/l - N Nitrate, NO3 mg/l - N Source 9.14 8.72 20.9 0.121* Product 4.71 4.59 3.32 0.122 * % Reduction 48.46% 47.36% 84.11% unknown Set 2 Source 10.6 10.1 21.1 BDL Product 1.94* 1.79 1.04 0.149* % Reduction 81.69% 82.27% 95.07% unknown Waste 42.6 42.4 55.3 0.219* * indicates estimated value below report limit. It was decided not to test for leaching on ME-1A because the ME-2 will be designed with materials that will not leachand will meet dairy industry 3A regulations. 3A dairy requirements will be followed throughout the ME-2 design process, as well as best practices for sanitary Clean-in-Place processes. These include fabricating ME-2 with materials such as 300 series stainless steel parts for compatibility with cleaning fluids, reducing spaces where material could collect and installing ports to facilitate cleaing. An independent assessment of competitive evaporator quotes found that MicroEVAP™ to be less expensive than the competition. (see table below). Company 1 Company 1 Company 2 Company 3 Company 4 Micronic Measures Heat Pump MVR Evap Evap/Dry Evap Food Grade Evap Food Grade KWh/gallon 0.568 0.189 0.227 0.372 0.25 0.3 Electrical cost per kWh $ 0.076 $ 0.076 $ 0.076 $ 0.076 $ 0.076 $ 0.076 Cost/gallon of clean water for energy $ 0.043 $ 0.014 $ 0.017 $ 0.028 $ 0.019 $ 0.023 Estimated Capital for 1500 GPD unit $ 750,000 $ 1,000,000 $ 1,000,000 $ 1,300,000 $2,000,000 $ 250,000 Total annual costs $ 204,906 $ 226,052 $ 227,562 $ 297,825 $ 373,475 $ 121,720 Cost/gallon $ 0.39 $ 0.43 $ 0.43 $ 0.57 $ 0.71 $ 0.23 Up to 88 percent reduced CAPEX of MicroEVAP™ over the competition and up to 67 percent reduced OPEX of MicroEVAP™ over the competition demonstrates competitive benefit. Companies that do not treat wastewater onsite must resort to trucking wastewater to treatment facilities. Compared to these companies that do not incur a capital investment, on a per gallon basis MicroEVAP™ is at least 50 percent less costly. Micronic has validated opportunities in the cheese market and targeted some 95 U.S. cheese plants for unit sales estimated at $35,000,000 through 2026. Reverse Osmosis Retentate: Water recovery for potable water reuse, and dairy solids to animal feed (food grade), eliminating all discharge to the environment. Third party laboratory product analysis reported >99% reduction of metals, COD and solids. Total dissolved solids (TDS) were reducedto below drinking water maximum level of 500ppm. Source Sample: Reverse Osmosis Retentate Results Set 1 Total Solids mg/l TDS mg/l Conductivity umhos/cm Source 33,288 29,546 38,200 Product BDL 20.0 83.0 %Reduction unknown 99.93% 99.78% Set 2 Source 33,614 28,748 46,700 Product 150 114 161 %Reduction 99.55% 99.60% 99.65% Set 3 Source 33,912 28,620 40,100 Product 284 252 222 %Reduction 99.16% 99.11% 99.44% Waste 102,828 77,980 110,100 Set 1 Total Nitrogen mg/l - N Nitrogen, TKN mg/l Ammonium, NH4 mg/l - N Nitrate, NO3 mg/l - N Source 116 115 79.1 0.726 Product 3.49 3.33 3.96 0.157* %Reduction 96.99% 97.10% 94.99% 99.97% Set 2 Source 193 193 78.8 0.406* Product 9.88 9.76 7.02 0.115* %Reduction 94.88% 94.49% 91.09% 71.67% Set 3 Source 344 344 80.6 0.383* Product 12.7 12.7 11.4 BDL %Reduction 96.30% 96.30% 85.85% unknown Waste 542 542 125 0.401* Set 1 Sodium mg/l Potassium mg/l Calcium mg/l FOG mg/l Source 2,033 7,832 316 BDL Product 2.35 7.15 0.753 BDL %Reduction 99.88% 99.90% 99.76% unknown Set 2 Source 2958 8617 375* BDL Product 3.25 11.9 1.03 BDL %Reduction 99.89% 98.86% 99.73% unknown Set 3 Source 2,435 8,609 394* BDL Product 3.80 11.9 1.10 3.00 %Reduction 99.84% 99.86% 99.72% unknown Waste 7214 24,800 672 BDL * indicates estimated value below report limit.

Publications