TECHNOLOGY

In the Phosphorus Elimination System (PES), nutrient-rich water is pumped and distributed over a vegetated bed. The water flows vertically through SWIG’s proprietary engineered media where phosphorus is adsorbed. Treated water is collected in an underdrain pipe and then discharged. Using our system, there are no toxic chemicals and no by-products. Other than the pumps used to transport the water to and from the system and the auto-samplers to document nutrient removal, the system is completely passive, making it highly resilient to natural events (e.g. cyclones). Phosphorus is permanently chemically bound to the PES media. Using a circular economy approach, PES media is derived from materials that are ordinarily landfilled. Media lifetime can be engineered to range from 5 to 20 years. Spent media is removed at the end of its useful life and used as an ideal soil amendment, as the bound phosphorus does not leach but is available to plant roots. In the ONE system, the media is optimized for nitrification, with denitrification (transformation to nitrogen gas) in an additional layer.