With about half the world’s population lacking access to sanitation, KAUST faculty Peiying Hong says there is an urgent need to provide safe and sustainable sewage treatment to minimize the risk of waterborne diseases. 

Since joining KAUST in 2012, Hong and her team have been developing energy-efficient wastewater treatment processes that generate high-quality effluent suitable for reuse. The result is a decentralized process that cleans sewage entirely off-grid. 

Since July 2022, this decentralized process has been used in a pilot treatment plant in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This is operated in collaboration with the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones (MODON) and with funding from KAUST to treat 50,000 liters of wastewater a day, using no energy from the grid. 

“This is equivalent to cleaning the wastewater generated by about 200 people each day at zero energy cost,” says Hong.