The University of South Wales (USW) is pioneering a project that might drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions during wastewater treatment.

Named ‘OXYHYWATER’, the project is a collaboration with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW). Unique in concept, OXYHYWATER employs pure oxygen instead of atmospheric air in treating effluent.

Professor Alan Guwy, head of the Sustainable Environment Research Centre (SERC) and project lead, stated: "By using pure oxygen to treat the wastewater, the costs of the process when compared to that of using air from the atmosphere."

He added that OXYHYWATER also generates a lesser amount of secondary biomass, reducing secondary waste treatment cost and energy demands.

The system also curbs nitrous oxide emissions, a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 300 times greater than carbon dioxide.

Associate professor and co-investigator Dr. Jaime Massanet-Nicolau added: "By implementing OXYHYWATER, the water industry could produce the pure oxygen through electrolysis," which is an eco-friendly procedure.

The project has evolved from lab scale to pilot scale, currently operating at a wastewater treatment plant in South Wales.