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Conventional approaches to extracting fertilisers from wastewater only to re-apply them later to meet agricultural need simply does not stack up as good economic sense either to the end user nor the natural environment when considering the notable concerns associated with agricultural run-off. For food and municipal effluents, ‘waste to energy’ schemes become even more viable when including ‘waste’ harvested from ‘waste water’ using Baleen. The resulting product is typically 10-12 times more concentrated in energy value than the dilute effluent feedstock presently used for conventional biogas production.The energy content of (wastewater) sludge is greater than oil shale or tar sand.’ TEXACO R&D 1991“ CONVENTIONAL APPROACHES TO EXTRACTING FERTILISERS FROM WASTEWATER ONLY TO RE-APPLY THEM LATER TO MEET AGRICULTURAL NEED SIMPLY DOES NOT STACK UP AS GOOD ECONOMIC SENSE”Emission-based estimates (UNEP 1998) determine that there is enough energy-rich ‘waste’ contained by ‘waste water’ to yield a greenhouse benefit of some 3.34 billion tonnes of CO2 avoided annually (Vs global emission of 9.50 billion tonnes, US EPA 2011) to reduce CO2 loading on oceanic ecosystems by one-third. The resulting cleaner ‘Water’ containing free fertilizer would also supply one-third of global water for agriculture (UN, UNESCO and FAO).The electricity generation potential (UNEP 1998) of this renewable ‘waste’ is estimated at around 583 billion kilowatts of useful power (Vs a global demand of 23,322 billion kilowatts, IEA 2013) – enough to power more than 100 million homes. This indicates that the amount of useful energy which can be reclaimed from ‘WasteWater’, though just 2.5 per cent of global demand, is higher than the combined total of 2 per cent from wind, solar, geothermal and biomass (REN21 2014).Interestingly, this equates to 57 per cent of total electricity-demand provided by oil or 6 per cent by coal (IEA 2013). Yet unlike non-renewables, ‘waste water’ is found where communities reside, which means it could efficiently power the transport industry (including electric vehicles) in lieu of existing coal-fired or oil-combustion sources, to encourage the move from fossil fuels. Baleen is simple to use and fully monitored for reliable remote operation. Modular-containerised plant, with single treatment capacities up to 1 million gallons per day (3.8MLD), are readily deployable for scaled implementation irrespective of geographic location.“Peer-reviewed economic modelling of Baleen’s offering supports an investment return measured in months.”With collaboration and timely resourcing, ‘community by community’, humanity can restore natural order to end destructive climate change simply by returning natural order to Earth’s ecosystems. ■ABOUT YURI OBST Yuri Obst is an internationally acclaimed chemical engineer and environmental scientist who invented the unique self-cleaning filter/separator (known as Baleen) during his doctorate study whilst employed by the University of South Australia.Visit www.baleen.com or Contact yuri@baleen.com to help End Marine Pollution. WATER SECURITY 071