The Foundation Board selected three projects to be funded under the 2008 Unsolicited Research Program during its September 9 meeting. The Unsolicited Research Program funds projects proposed by researchers. The Foundation issued a "Call for Preproposals" in January and received 50 responses. After review by the Foundation's Research Advisory Committee, seven researchers were invited to submit full proposals. The three that were selected for funding are listed below:
Investigation of Desalination Membrane Biofouling: The objective of this project is two-fold. First, this project is to identify and quantify water quality constituents and environmental factors that trigger accelerated biofouling of seawater desalination reverse osmosis membranes and to determine key species of marine microorganisms involved in biofilm formation. Second, this project also aims to define the thresholds of easy-to-measure seawater parameters which could be used as precursor indicators of accelerated biofouling. The principal investigator is Sunny Jiang, UC Irvine.
Reclaimed Water Desalination Technologies: A Full-Scale Performance/Cost Comparison Between EDR and MF/RO: The principle objective is to compare the two most commonly applied desalination technologies for tertiary wastewater treatment; microfiltration/reverse osmosis (MF/RO) and electrodialysis reversal (EDR). These technologies will be compared using years of data and information collected from operating full-scale desalination facilities that will be treating similar feedwater quality (e.g. tertiary filtered, completely nitrified) at a similar capacity. The true objective of this project is to assess the actual performance, along with operational and capital costs to improve the industry's understanding of these desalination technologies. The principal investigator is Shane Trussell of Trussell Technologies.
Infectivity Assay for Giardia lamblia Cysts: Although waterborne cysts of Giardia lamblia are routinely detected with immunofluorescence tests, these tests do not differentiate between infectious and dead cysts, making it difficult to assess the risk associated with the presence of these parasites in reclaimed water. To address this problem, Tufts University proposes to develop a molecular infectivity assay based on the detection of specific mRNA molecules in cysts, and to validate this assay with different treatment plant effluents and against an established animal model. The principal investigator is Giovanni Widmer of Tufts University.