Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/R47813/01
Title:	Combined Biological and Chemical Remediation of Contaminated Construction and Demolition Waste for Environmental Re-Use
Principal Investigator:	Singleton, Professor I
Other Investigators:	Manning, Professor DAC Manning, Professor D
Researcher Co-Investigators:	Professor M Goodfellow
Project Partners:	Building Research Establishment (BRE) Tarmac Victoria University of Manchester, The
Department:	Sch of Biology
Organisation:	Newcastle University
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 December 2001	Ends:	31 May 2003	Value (£):	60,817
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Waste Management
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Manufacturing Construction Environment
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Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
Approximately 54 million tonnes of waste from building demolition and road construction are produced every year. A significant proportion of the waste is contaminated and disposed in landfill: a practice which is not sustainable and is becoming uneconomic due to increasing landfill costs. Therefore remediation of this waste would reduce the amount dispposed in landfill and potentially allow re-use for economic gain. Remediation methods employed must be viable and it is possible that a combined chemical and biological approach (i.e. bioremediation involving microorganisms) could be utilised to remediate waste contaminated by toxic organic pollutants. Indeed remediation is viewed favourably by the industries involved. As little is known about the microbial population of the waste this will be enumerated and a search for specific microbial groups known for their abilities to transform organic pollutants undertaken. The high pH of contaminated waste provides an unfavourable environment for microbial-based bioremediation methods and chemical methods of decreasing pH will be investigated to produce an environment more suitable for microbial growth. The possibility of adding microbial inocula and composting for improving pollutant transformation will be examined. Other environmental parameters such as nutrient addition and aeration will be optimised. The ultimate aim is to produce a combined biological and chemical remediation method for contaminated waste: the effectiveness of which will be assessed by a combination of chemical and toxicological techniques.
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Organisation Website:	http://www.ncl.ac.uk