This episode features Karen Schuett, Co-Founder and CEO of Livestock Water Recycling (LWR). With her roots in zoology, Karen embarked on a journey from groundwater treatment in the oil and gas sector to forging solutions in livestock manure treatment. A local farmer's challenge with manure lagoons prompted this shift, leading to the development of LWR's specialized system.

Livestock waste is denser than municipal waste, making its treatment a challenge. LWR has developed a system that efficiently separates this waste and recovers nutrients. This approach is eco-friendly, cost-effective, and even allows farmers to sell the extracted nutrients. By using machine learning, LWR has cut chemical use by 40%. Karen Schuett and her team are now looking to harness data, like weather and animal health, to further refine their solutions. Learn about the future of livestock water recycling through Karen's insights

🎙️ Join us in our latest episode with Professor Julio Berbel from the University of Cordoba. Together with Rhea Verbeke, we delve deep into the intricacies of European water management. From the fundamental Water Framework Directive to the debate between water pricing vs. governance, we explore the future of sustainable water use. 💧 Curious about the balance between policy and practice? Give it a listen! 

In this episode, Oliver Lawal, the CEO and founder of AquiSense Technologies, talks about the challenges in water disinfection and the promise of UV-C LED technology as an alternative to chemical treatments. He shares the progress of UV-C LED chips, how they're becoming more affordable, and their real-world applications. The conversation explores how to enhance UV systems and what's on the horizon for water purification.

In this episode, Rhea and I talk with Professor Ryan Kingsbury from Princeton University about ion-selective transport in membranes. We discuss how traditional methods based on particle size and charge fall short for tasks like extracting lithium from brine. Professor Kingsbury highlights the importance of considering molecular interactions and electronic structures of ions. We also learn about his career journey, exploring the different rewards of academia and industry. 

In this episode, we'll delve into the water treatment solutions for PFAS with our guest, Brian Pinkard, the CTO & Co-Founder at Aquagga. We'll uncover the journey from using hydrothermal technology for destroying chemical weapons, to now dealing with PFAS. Learn about the safety, cost-effectiveness, and advantages of Hydrothermal Alkaline Treatment or HALT technology, and see how it measures up against other methods like incineration. Plus, we'll discuss the financial implications, regulatory factors, and corporate duties when it comes to water contaminated with PFAS.

In this podcast episode, Rhea and I were thankful to engage with Prof. Richard Luthy, a renowned ocean engineer, @US Nav Navy submersible pilot, and chemical engineering PhD from University of California, Berkeley, now teaching Civil Engineering at Stanford University. With water scarcity as a central topic, Prof. Luthy elaborated on the indispensable role of stormwater capture and reuse. He emphasized the importance of collaborative, multidisciplinary approaches in water management, advocating for reform in both urban and rural sectors regarding water rights and agricultural practices. His discussion highlighted the need to leave more water for ecosystems, urging us to recognize and acknowledge our collective responsibility in this issue. One of the profound quotes that Rhea and I gleaned from this conversation is, "We are all part of the problem, we are all part of the solution”

The water footprint is the water that we consume and pollute in the supply chain of our daily goods. We may use around 125 liters of water/day at home, but in total we are consuming around 7000 liters of water/day via the food we eat and the fashion we buy. To better understand the water footprint, Rhea and I hosted prof Markus Berger from the University of Twente. We learned more about different types of water and, more importantly, about how much our awareness of our daily purchased goods can affect water scarcity. It may sound like an exaggeration but raising awareness about and decreasing our water footprint may solve the current water crisis much faster than developing breakthrough water technologies.

Investing is oxygen for water techs. One can invest in assets such as oil and gas and real state, but how about investing in water? Apparently, there is not enough financial infrastructure to invest in water beyond a handful of large water OEM’s (Origin Equipment Manufacturing or a company that builds water treatment systems) and few big chemical firms which regularly acquire water tech startups. Riggs Eckelberry, CEO of OriginClear, discusses in this podcast episode the possibility of investing directly in water asset by investing in decentralized water systems. These systems can be outsourced and paid per the amount of treated water/wastewater.

A growing global population causes an increased demand for food, and more specifically for more sustainable protein sources. In this podcast episode, Rhea and I had an inspiring discussion with Stefan Wuertz, Professor of Environmental Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, about microbial community-based protein production from wastewater for animal feed applications. Stefan’s interdisciplinary team is researching and engineering processes that can grow bacteria in wastewater. The bacteria biomass contains proteins that can be used as feed for animals. The water footprint of this process is much lower than that of conventional protein sources, as the water that is used here would normally be discarded. Currently, his team is computing  the economical feasibility and sustainability of this process, while collaborating with the industry for product valorization.

Finding a niche in academic water research can be challenging for young professors and postdocs. In this episode, Rhea and I hosted Prof. Ngai Yin Yip, professor at Columbia University, who conducts research on membrane-less and non-evaporative desalination of hypersaline brines by temperature swing solvent extraction (TSSE). This TSSE desalination is driven by low-grade thermal heat to cost-competitively treat high-salinity waters. He is also developing a cost-competitive and sustainable membrane-based process to remove and recover nitrogen as ammonia and phosphor as phosphate from nutrient-rich wastewaters.