Volume 4 August, 2020

PRC Update
Spotlight on our people
New collaborator: Bulent Mutus
The Thames River PRC is pleased to announce that Dr. Bulent Mutus, Professor Emeritus at the University of Windsor, will be testing a new phosphorus sorption material at the Roesch Farms demonstration site beginning this fall, in time for the heavier rainfall period.

As a biochemist and enzymologist, he has worked on several projects to find materials that can extract phosphorus from agricultural wastewater. He is partnering with PhD candidate David Ure for this study.

He will be testing  hydrogel beads made from iron chloride and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). CMC comes from the cell walls of plants and is used in many everyday applications, including as an emulsifier to make food thicker and creamier. The material - which according to Dr. Mutus looks like dried seaweed - will be inserted into the testing  tanks that capture tile drain water from a 25-acre  field.

Read more about Dr. Mutus here
Roesch extraction
It was a warm day in June when a crew including Colin Little from the Lower Thames Conservation Authority, Kevin McCague from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Gary Walker, founder of GAPS Ontario and Thames River PRC project co-ordinator Charlie Lalonde extracted biochar from the testing tanks at Roesch Farms. Watch this video, narrated by Charlie, to find out how it all worked.
Salford slag cartridge
Check out this cool video that shows our Salford demonstration site. Thanks Upper Thames River Conservation Authority!
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Promising results in Chatham

A phosphorus removal and recovery system being tested at a municipal pump station west of Chatham is showing promising results after less than a year of data. 

More about Waterloo Biofilter Inc.'s Waterloo EC-P™ technology here.
Amprey: New technology to extract phosphorus
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), through the Thames River PRC, is working with the University of Western Ontario (Western) and Muddy River Technologies Inc. to determine how a new technology can remove dissolved phosphorus from a number of water sources. 

Muddy River’s  technology is called “Amprey”.  It uses electricity to dissolve particles to form hyper-reactive charged metal ions that attach onto phosphorus and remove it from water. The solid that is formed contains phosphorus and magnesium and can be used as a fertilizer for agriculture rather than being sent to the landfill as waste. The Amprey technology is being tested at a London site with access to Medway Creek.

More about Amprey here

Upcoming events (check websites for event status)

  • Webinar - Phosphorus Reduction: Lessons learned from Canada and the U.S. September 3, 2020, 11:00 a.m. EDT, 10:00 a.m. CDT. Check it out to find out more on our progress! Register here.

New on the web

  • Check out Us in the News for coverage from all over southwestern Ontario.

  • See our Idea Pool page for updates on what's going on in the world of water and phosphorus.