UQ research wins QLD water awards

University of Queensland projects investigating net-zero emissions in wastewater and contributing to sustainable wastewater treatment have won prestigious industry awards.

The two prizes were presented at the annual Australian Water Association Queensland Gala Dinner and Awards Night.

A project which used bacteria to remove nitrogen from wastewater won the Infrastructure Project Innovation Award (Metro) for Urban Utilities’ Luggage Point Resource Recovery Centre – delivered by Urban Utilities, Veolia Water Technologies, Fulton Hogan, and supported by The University of Queensland.

Dr Shihu Hu, Senior Research Fellow at UQ’s Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology, has been working on the project for more than 10 years.

“This award has recognised a project that will deliver significant economic and environmental benefits to water utilities,” Dr Hu said.

“The anammox process now saves Urban Utilities around $500,000 each year, and ensures environmental compliance, produces fewer net greenhouse gas emissions and can be easily scaled to meet future demands.”

The 2021 QLD Student Water Prize was awarded to PhD graduate Tao Liu for his work on Net-Zero Emission and Energy Neutrality, a Novel Technology to Utilise Methane Produced in Wastewater Treatment.

“This project has the potential to position Australian water industries at the frontier of advanced wastewater treatment technologies,” Dr Liu said.

All winners from the AWA’s state awards are now in the running for the AWA’s national Water Awards to be held in Brisbane in May 2022.

Media: Sharon James, sharon.james@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 7205.