REGENAQUA HINCHINBROOK

Water Treatment Project

Growth Opportunity

The RegenAqua projects meets the objectives of the Reef 2050 Plan. It is a transformational technology that will drive sustainable growth of agriculture and aquaculture industries plus municipal infrastructure in North Queensland, while reducing existing levels of nitrogen and phosphorous being discharged into rivers and Great Barrier Reef waters from aquaculture and municipal wastewater treatment facilities.

RegenAqua is a homegrown, world-leading technology pioneered by James Cook University (JCU) in partnership with Pacific Biotechnologies Pty Limited (PacBio), an innovative 100% Australian-owned company.

RegenAqua uses sunlight to convert these nutrients into macroalgae (seaweed), which is then processed into a biostimulant to accompany conventional fertilisers. The benefits are cleaner water, further aquaculture expansion and growth in sustainable agriculture.

The system was developed as a solution to reduce nutrient discharge on PacBio’s aquaculture assets, however, highly successful trials at Cleveland Bay and more recently at the Burdekin Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP) have proven the technology as an effective, low cost, scalable solution for Councils.

BACKGROUND:

The basic principle of RegenAqua is that native green algae use sunlight to grow and absorb phosphorus and nitrogen (nutrient pollutants) from the waste water stream prior to discharge into the environment. Green algae is then harvested and converted into a biostimulant (PlantJuice) that enables the return of these elements back into the agricultural biosphere in a safe, low energy and value-adding form (like auxins, gibberellins etc.) rather than as damaging dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN).

These natural hormones enable plant growth and enrich soils reducing the dependency on traditional nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) fertiliser systems, widely considered a source of DIN and pollution across the Great Barrier Reef catchment areas.

STATUS:

The Burdekin Shire has been working with Pacific Bio for some time and is leading the way with a shovel ready project designed to protect its community, enable local industry growth, and reduce its impact on the Great Barrier Reef.

With a RegenAqua pre-facility in operation since March 2021, the facility is consistently delivering exceptional results with nutrient pollutant reductions to below global best practice of 5mg/L Nitrogen and 1mg/L Phosphorus.

Construction of a commercial scale facility will commence in early 2023 and will be the model which will be applied to all other sites.

In November 2022, the RegenAqua Burdekin project received its final $2 million in State Government funding for a commercial scale facility (previous State Government funding of $3.5 million was received mid 2022). It is intended that this model will be duplicated in the Hinchinbrook Shire.

The Hinchinbrook RegenAqua Facility is currently sized at six hectares.

BENEFITS:

This project supports jobs and economic development in North Queensland and demonstrates a practical solution to protecting one of the world’s greatest natural assets – the Great Barrier Reef. This Australian technology can not only help to protect our Great Barrier Reef, but could be exported to other nations in need of support of their ecosystems and reefs.

FUTURE SITES:

Townsville City Council has expressed interest in implementing RegenAqua technology at the facility in Condon. The completion of these sites will provide a foundation that will enable RegenAqua macroalgal wastewater treatment to be adopted by other councils across North Queensland east coast where low cost, low energy wastewater treatment is needed to ensure protection of communities and the Great Barrier Reef.

THE BURDEKIN, HINCHINBROOK AND TOWNSVILLE PROJECTS COMBINED WILL REMOVE NUTRIENTS CURRENTLY DISCHARGED INTO THE GREAT BARRIER REEF CATCHMENT:

500T OF INORGANIC NITROGEN

4,511T OF CARBON

WHAT WE NEED

102T OF INORGANIC PHOSPHORUS

3,609 CARS

$9 million from the State or Federal Government to establish facilities in the Hinchinbrook Shire.