Life Sciences PhD student wins award at UK Environmental Biotechnology conference

The conference took place from 12 to 14 September 2022 at the University of Nottingham and attracted a number of researchers from the UK interested in developing engineered biological systems for solving environmental problems, from dealing with plastic pollution and cleaning up contaminated sites to recovering useful resources from waste.

Kyle’s poster was titled ‘Pilot scale electromethanogenic reactor treating brewery wastewater – progress to commercial implementation’. The reactor, currently installed at Hepworth Brewery in Sussex, is being investigated for its potential to treat brewery wastewater to meet discharge limits, generate energy - as biogas - and minimise the cost of wastewater treatment.

Kyle’s PhD project is sponsored by an Industrial Fellowship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 and is a collaborative project involving the University of Westminster and WASE Limited, a company which works with manufacturers to turn their waste into bioenergy, water for reuse and agricultural inputs.

Speaking about Kyle’s achievement, Dr Godfrey Kyazze, Reader in Bioprocess Technology and Course Leader for the Applied Biotechnology MSc course, said: “This is great news and I congratulate Kyle for the hard work he has put into the project so far. The pilot reactor has already made a positive difference in the way wastewater is treated at Hepworth Brewery. The data generated will provide a foundation for developing and installing truly commercial systems over the coming year.”

Thomas Fudge, CEO of WASE Ltd, added: “The partnership between WASE Ltd and the University of Westminster shows how industry and academic collaboration can accelerate research to create impactful results to expedite the development of clean tech to tackle some of society’s greatest challenges.”

Lean more about the Applied Biotechnology Research Group at the University of Westminster.