Hanoi (VNA) -Some 150 scientists gathered in Hanoi to discuss how to develop environmentallyfriendly, economically viable and energy efficient process to treat andpreserve the world’s limited water resources.

The three-day conference onGreen Technologies for Sustainable Water 2017 (GTSW) that began on October 14was organised by five universities – the University of Technology Sydney,University of Wollongong, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Vietnam’s Universityof Science and Vietnam-Japan University (VJU).

Speaking at the openingceremony, VJU rector Furuta Motoo said the development of environment-friendlytechnologies for water resource utilization and management is of vitalimportance in the context of population growth. With global water resourcesbeing gradually depleted, especially for countries strongly affected by climatechange like Vietnam, demand risks exceeding supply.

“There is an urgent need toexploit and develop appropriate green technologies that promote design,production and supply chain because the major cause of the world’s watershortage and continued environmental deterioration is the unsustainable,unregulated pattern of consumption and production,” said Executive chairof the GTSW 2017 conference, Ngo Huu Hao.

The limitations on theamount of fresh water from natural sources forced the water industry  toexpand supplementary sources, such as rainwater, storm water, desalinated wateror recycled water, which in most cases need extensive treatment to ensure humanhealth and environmental safety, he added.

Prof Ashok Pandey fromIndia’s Centre of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing, one of the 150scientists participating in the conference, presented microalgae-basedresearch, which he said has extensively progressed for the production of valueadded products and biofuels.

“Coupling mass cultivationof microalgae along with industrial waste waters, seawater with industrialwaste carbon sources seems to be beneficial for minimizing the use of freshwater, reducing carbon, nutrient cost and producing algal biomass as resourcesfor biofuels and other high commercial value metabolities,” he said.

Prof Xiaochang C.Wang fromChina’s Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology presented anaerobicdigestion of waste-to-resource recycling from food waste.

Food waste containsrecoverable resources and anaerobic digestion is a promising technology. Acombination of food waste treatment and waste-activated sludge treatment byanaerobic digestion could become the new direction of urban waste managementthrough which the utilizable bio-resource can be recovered for bothnitrification enhancement and bio-energy production.

Dang Bao Trong from HCMCity University of Technology presented a study evaluating the treatmentperformance of sponge membrane bioreactors in treating hospital wastewater withelevated concentrations of ciprofloxacin (CIP) – a widely used antibiotic inViet Nam.

High concentration ofvarious antibiotics has been detected in wastewater of healthcare facilities inHCM City. The average concentration of CIP in hospital wastewater in HCM Citywas 4-5 times greater than in other Asian countries, he said.

Sponge membrane bioreactorshave been reported as an effective biological treatment process for hospitalwaste water treatment.

Besides presentations,lectures and reports, participants are also visiting the Yen So Waste WaterTreatment Station in Hanoi to learn about local water management andtreatment.-VNA