BGU and Northwestern Lead $21.4M Water-Energy Tech Project
BGU and Northwestern Lead $21.4M Water-Energy Tech Project
April 20, 2020
Israel21C — The $21.4 million Collaborative Water-Energy Research Center is set to be led by Northwestern University of Chicago and BGN Technologies, the technology-transfer company of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
It is part of the U.S.-Israel Energy Center program administered by the U.S.-Israel Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation.
Prof. Aaron Packman from Northwestern University co-directs the center with Prof. Moshe Herzberg from BGU’s Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research at its Jacob Blaustein Institutes of Desert Research.
Working at the intersection of water and energy, the center will focus on researching, developing and commercializing technology in three areas: energy-efficient enhanced water supply, wastewater reuse and resource recovery, and energy-water systems.
The joint technology development efforts will culminate in pilot testing at water and wastewater facilities in both Israel and the United States.
“Interestingly, urban wastewater contains more energy than the amount needed for its purification,” says Prof. Hertzberg. “Our aim is to recover this energy, along with nutrients, and reuse the treated water.”