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Dean Cameron is an Australian inventor from Maleny, Australia. He is the inventor of Biolytix and Joinlox. [1] He has received awards for his inventions, including ABC's 2008 national New Inventors award for Joinlox, the 2007 Asian Innovation Award, the People's Choice Award at The Australian and New Zealand Innovation Awards in 2008, and the Clunies Ross Award. [2] He owned Biolytix Water Australia Pty. Ltd. until its liquidation in 2011.
Biolytix is a sewage treatment and filtration system that works by using natural aeration. The Biolytix Biopod is where most of the process takes place. The water gets separated for the waste and bacterium or worms decompose it into humus; an organic compound that is made by the organisms that live in soil. The Biopod is a layered filter that filters the waste out of the water. Upon installation tiger worms are introduced to the environment of the Biopod to help break down and separate the solid waste from the water. The worms dig tunnels and further aerate the waste, causing the water to trickle through the tunnels and become filtered naturally. The bottom layer is made to filter out all solids larger than 80 microns, leaving clean water at the bottom. The system uses up to 90% less electricity than other systems and has fewer moving parts to replace. [3]
Cameron had been trying to produce methane by extracting acids from human waste. He had made an airtight system because the production of methane is anaerobic, but still, he was not getting results. There was still air in the human waste that was interfering with the production of the methane by keeping the system aerobic.
The product had been approved by the Department of Health in Western Australia until it put out an advisory stating that it was no longer an approved product. [4] The system was inconsistent and to be serviced needed to be completely disassembled, or replaced. This was a $10,000 deficit to the homeowners who purchased them. Plumbers that had repaired many of them even discredited the environmental standard that they had been designed to live up to. [5] According to Cameron the failure of the systems and the company were attributed to the heavy rain and flooding in December. Sales dropped drastically, and the company was no longer able to sustain salaries. [6]
Joinlox is a technology designed to make large water tanks easier and cheaper to transport. Cameron wanted a way to transport them in parts and have easy assembly at their destination. It works with interlocking teeth, similar to a zipper and is locked into place using a key piece and a hammer. It converts the flexural load and the shear load into a tensar load. The idea for the design came from the natural design that clams have to hold a load of water.
Cameron went to high school at Riverside High School, in Launceston, Tasmania from 1972-1973. He went on to R.M. Murray High School in Queenstown, Tasmania from 1972-1973. From 1973-1975 he attended Carmel College Bickley in Perth, Western Australia where he graduated from. He moved onto Avondale College of Higher Education where he studied Theology. He then went to the University of Queensland from 1979-1981 to get a bachelor's degree in horticulture. From there, he went to RMIT University to earn his Boilermakers Certificate at the school of Fitting and Machining. He then studied Botany at the University of Melbourne from 1983-1986 and got a bachelor's degree in environmental science from Murdoch University from 1985-1986. [7]
Cameron started working as a design consultant for Futuresmith, a nonprofit organization. He designs Lifebubbles; these are eco friendly, zero carbon life support habitats. He owned Biolytix wastewater treatment from 2004-2011 when he had to liquidate due to the failure of the Biolytix waste system.
Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant and food waste, recycling organic materials, and manure. The resulting mixture is rich in plant nutrients and beneficial organisms, such as bacteria, protozoa, nematodes, and fungi. Compost improves soil fertility in gardens, landscaping, horticulture, urban agriculture, and organic farming, reducing dependency on commercial chemical fertilizers. The benefits of compost include providing nutrients to crops as fertilizer, acting as a soil conditioner, increasing the humus or humic acid contents of the soil, and introducing beneficial microbes that help to suppress pathogens in the soil and reduce soil-borne diseases.
Vermicompost (vermi-compost) is the product of the decomposition process using various species of worms, usually red wigglers, white worms, and other earthworms, to create a mixture of decomposing vegetable or food waste, bedding materials, and vermicast. This process is called vermicomposting, with the rearing of worms for this purpose is called vermiculture.
A septic tank is an underground chamber made of concrete, fiberglass, or plastic through which domestic wastewater (sewage) flows for basic sewage treatment. Settling and anaerobic digestion processes reduce solids and organics, but the treatment efficiency is only moderate. Septic tank systems are a type of simple onsite sewage facility. They can be used in areas that are not connected to a sewerage system, such as rural areas. The treated liquid effluent is commonly disposed in a septic drain field, which provides further treatment. Nonetheless, groundwater pollution may occur and can be a problem.
A composting toilet is a type of dry toilet that treats human waste by a biological process called composting. This process leads to the decomposition of organic matter and turns human waste into compost-like material. Composting is carried out by microorganisms under controlled aerobic conditions. Most composting toilets use no water for flushing and are therefore called "dry toilets".
The activated sludgeprocess is a type of biological wastewater treatment process for treating sewage or industrial wastewaters using aeration and a biological floc composed of bacteria and protozoa. It uses air and microorganisms to biologically oxidize organic pollutants, producing a waste sludge containing the oxidized material.
A leachate is any liquid that, in the course of passing through matter, extracts soluble or suspended solids, or any other component of the material through which it has passed.
An aerated lagoon is a simple wastewater treatment system consisting of a pond with artificial aeration to promote the biological oxidation of wastewaters.
Secondary treatment is the removal of biodegradable organic matter from sewage or similar kinds of wastewater. The aim is to achieve a certain degree of effluent quality in a sewage treatment plant suitable for the intended disposal or reuse option. A "primary treatment" step often precedes secondary treatment, whereby physical phase separation is used to remove settleable solids. During secondary treatment, biological processes are used to remove dissolved and suspended organic matter measured as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). These processes are performed by microorganisms in a managed aerobic or anaerobic process depending on the treatment technology. Bacteria and protozoa consume biodegradable soluble organic contaminants while reproducing to form cells of biological solids. Secondary treatment is widely used in sewage treatment and is also applicable to many agricultural and industrial wastewaters.
Sewage sludge treatment describes the processes used to manage and dispose of sewage sludge produced during sewage treatment. Sludge treatment is focused on reducing sludge weight and volume to reduce transportation and disposal costs, and on reducing potential health risks of disposal options. Water removal is the primary means of weight and volume reduction, while pathogen destruction is frequently accomplished through heating during thermophilic digestion, composting, or incineration. The choice of a sludge treatment method depends on the volume of sludge generated, and comparison of treatment costs required for available disposal options. Air-drying and composting may be attractive to rural communities, while limited land availability may make aerobic digestion and mechanical dewatering preferable for cities, and economies of scale may encourage energy recovery alternatives in metropolitan areas.
Fine bubble diffusers are a pollution control technology used to aerate wastewater for sewage treatment.
The Western Treatment Plant is a 110 km2 (42 sq mi) sewage treatment plant in Cocoroc, Victoria, Australia, 30 km (19 mi) west of Melbourne's central business district, on the coast of Port Phillip Bay. It was completed in 1897 by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW), and is currently operated by Melbourne Water. The plant's land is bordered by the Werribee River to the east, the Princes Freeway to the north, and Avalon Airport to the west. It forms part of the Port Phillip Bay and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site as a wetland of international importance. The Western Treatment Plant treats around fifty percent of Melbourne's sewage — about 485 megalitres or 393 acre-feet per day — and generates almost 40,000 megalitres or 32,000 acre-feet of recycled water a year.
Aerobic digestion is a process in sewage treatment designed to reduce the volume of sewage sludge and make it suitable for subsequent use. More recently, technology has been developed that allows the treatment and reduction of other organic waste, such as food, cardboard and horticultural waste. It is a bacterial process occurring in the presence of oxygen. Bacteria rapidly consume organic matter and convert it into carbon dioxide, water and a range of lower molecular weight organic compounds. As there is no new supply of organic material from sewage, the activated sludge biota begin to die and are used as food by saprotrophic bacteria. This stage of the process is known as endogenous respiration and it is process that reduces the solid concentration in the sludge.
A trickling filter is a type of wastewater treatment system. It consists of a fixed bed of rocks, coke, gravel, slag, polyurethane foam, sphagnum peat moss, ceramic, or plastic media over which sewage or other wastewater flows downward and causes a layer of microbial slime (biofilm) to grow, covering the bed of media. Aerobic conditions are maintained by splashing, diffusion, and either by forced-air flowing through the bed or natural convection of air if the filter medium is porous. The treatment of sewage or other wastewater with trickling filters is among the oldest and most well characterized treatment technologies.
Sewage treatment is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable to discharge to the surrounding environment or an intended reuse application, thereby preventing water pollution from raw sewage discharges. Sewage contains wastewater from households and businesses and possibly pre-treated industrial wastewater. There are a high number of sewage treatment processes to choose from. These can range from decentralized systems to large centralized systems involving a network of pipes and pump stations which convey the sewage to a treatment plant. For cities that have a combined sewer, the sewers will also carry urban runoff (stormwater) to the sewage treatment plant. Sewage treatment often involves two main stages, called primary and secondary treatment, while advanced treatment also incorporates a tertiary treatment stage with polishing processes and nutrient removal. Secondary treatment can reduce organic matter from sewage, using aerobic or anaerobic biological processes. A so-called quarternary treatment step can also be added for the removal of organic micropollutants, such as pharmaceuticals. This has been implemented in full-scale for example in Sweden.
Extended aeration is a method of sewage treatment using modified activated sludge procedures. It is preferred for relatively small waste loads, where lower operating efficiency is offset by mechanical simplicity.
The history of water supply and sanitation is one of a logistical challenge to provide clean water and sanitation systems since the dawn of civilization. Where water resources, infrastructure or sanitation systems were insufficient, diseases spread and people fell sick or died prematurely.
A rotating biological contactor or RBC is a biological fixed-film treatment process used in the secondary treatment of wastewater following primary treatment. The primary treatment process involves removal of grit, sand and coarse suspended material through a screening process, followed by settling of suspended solids. The RBC process allows the wastewater to come in contact with a biological film in order to remove pollutants in the wastewater before discharge of the treated wastewater to the environment, usually a body of water. A rotating biological contactor is a type of secondary (biological) treatment process. It consists of a series of closely spaced, parallel discs mounted on a rotating shaft which is supported just above the surface of the wastewater. Microorganisms grow on the surface of the discs where biological degradation of the wastewater pollutants takes place.
Mogden Sewage Treatment Works is a sewage treatment plant in the Ivybridge section of Isleworth, West London, formerly known as Mogden. Built in 1931–36 by Middlesex County Council and now operated by Thames Water, it is the third largest sewage works in the United Kingdom. It treats the waste water from about 1.9 million people served by three main sewers serving more than the northwest quarter of Outer London and two further main sewers from the south and south-west. The plant has been extended and is constantly being upgraded with new process, most recently in OfWat Amp6 by the Costain Atkins Joint venture who delivered 6MW of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) generation, New process air blowers for Batteries A & B and six gravity sludge thickening streams. The site covers 55 hectares.
Davyhulme Sewage Works is the main waste water treatment works for the city of Manchester, England, and one of the largest in Europe. It was opened in 1894, and has pioneered the improvement of treatment processes.
A vermifilter is an aerobic treatment system, consisting of a biological reactor containing media that filters organic material from wastewater. The media also provides a habitat for aerobic bacteria and composting earthworms that purify the wastewater by removing pathogens and oxygen demand. The "trickling action" of the wastewater through the media dissolves oxygen into the wastewater, ensuring the treatment environment is aerobic for rapid decomposition of organic substances.