Renewable Energy Via Aqueous-phase Reforming – REVAR

Renewable Energy Via Aqueous-phase Reforming – REVAR

Discovery: Finalist Discovery: Winner
Responding and adapting to climate change

Renewable Energy Via Aqueous-phase Reforming – REVAR

Finalist award: £49,990

Winner award: £426,700

Led by: ICMEA-UK Ltd and partners (Aston University and Costain Group PLC)

REVAR takes contaminated wastewater and extracts the energy content of the organic matter (suspended solids) in the water. The outputs are:
1. Cleaner water
2. Energy, to sustainably and cost-efficiently run wastewater processes, with a significant energy surplus.

REVAR is a fast-acting technology that combines two hydrothermal (hot-pressurised water) processes to achieve high conversion efficiency. With REVAR, conversion of organics in wastewater is achieved in seconds and minutes rather than days and weeks. The aim is to use REVAR to replace existing biological processing of wastewater streams in the water industry (Fig1.4) that currently consumes 1-2% of UK electricity (UtilityWeek,2021)

ICMEA-UK was announced as one of 10 winners in the Water Discovery Challenge on 20 February 2024 – read more in the announcement blog.