Welcome to the c(wr)2 Connections e-newsletter. Release once a quarter, c(wr)2 Connections will share project-related news and updates with our Circular Waste Recovery and Water Reuse Project team and supporters. If you have ideas for stories to feature in a future newsletter, then send them via email to aliceroach@ksu.edu.
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Team and Individual Shout-Outs
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We recognize the Seward County Community College team of Mersadez Lee, Megan Rice and Matteo Tosoni for the field work they’ve led in southwest Kansas. From facilitating the August site visit to High Plains Ponderosa Dairy to collecting water samples from in-region farms and other sources, this team has fostered community connections that support our research.
Thank you to Doug Hamilton for connecting our project team to waste recovery-related outreach and professional opportunities, including the Manure Expo where the c(wr)2 team staffed a tradeshow booth and the upcoming Waste to Worth conference.
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Several new contributors joined our team in recent weeks. Please extend a warm welcome to them as they begin participating in thrust meetings and broader project work.
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Afif Al Masduk is a Ph.D. student in the civil and environmental engineering program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He’ll be working with adviser Bruce Dvorak.
- Sofia Da Silveira Cabral will collaborate with the Seward County Community College team as a student-researcher.
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Carlos Jemio Flores began work as a research technician with Seward County Community College. He'll support project research at SCCC.
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Jiaqi Song studies biological and agricultural engineering at Kansas State University. He’ll be contributing to the c(wr)2 project’s life-cycle assessment with adviser Jikai Zhao.
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All three research thrusts have active work underway. These summaries capture highlights from completed and current thrust work.
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Thrust 1 —
Waste Recovery
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The AnMBR unit has primarily operated to produce organic acids at a good efficiency, which is relevant to the project goals for year 1. However, the group's research has indicated that nutrient recovery efficiency is impacted by the presence of organic acids — thereby delaying any tasks connected with nutrient recovery. Transitioning to biogas production in the second project year will allow for recovering more nutrients. The MxC has focused on anode operation but will transition to producing hydrogen in 2027 — followed by hydrogen peroxide the year after.
ASBR workplan components from the first year have been completed, except that finding functional parameters for the floating covers will continue. Test reactors are being rebuilt and should be running at steady state later this calendar year.
The machine learning model directed at optimizing membrane characteristics is progressing well. Membrane synthesis and co-polymer design work are overcoming some technological problems.
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Most of thrust 2's activities begin in the second project year. Collaborators have begun identifying contaminants of concern to target and determining the methods used to measure contaminant levels.
The process methodology used in thrust 1 membrane design will apply to the thrust 2 membrane work, too.
The life-cycle analysis has begun with conversations and information-sharing among team members.
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Thrust 3 — Human Dimensions and Economics
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| After completing 16 interviews with individuals interested in waste recovery and water reuse, the thrust 3 team has pivoted to data cleaning and coding.
The next phase of primary research will involve surveying communities of interest — those that could adopt technologies under development by the c(wr)2 team. Survey topics will include cultural and risk perceptions, safety concerns and potential economic and social impacts. Communities being considered are Guymon, Oklahoma; Holdenville, Oklahoma; Dodge City, Kansas; Liberal, Kansas; Fremont, Nebraska; Broken Bow, Nebraska; and Dundy County, Nebraska.
The second-year workplan also includes secondary research into questions critical to waste recovery and water reuse technology development. The intent is determining what products would be most used and their preferred specifications and perceived value. The team will focus on co-products identified at the 2026 all-hands meeting.
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Outreach and Workforce Development News
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In July, Bruce Dvorak, Doug Hamilton and Prathap Parameswaran traveled to Wayne, Nebraska, for the Manure Expo 2026. The event introduced the c(wr)2 team to contacts interested in water recovery and waste management systems. The team shared several takeaways:
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Producers would like more information about a new system’s economics and see evidence from trials on other farms.
- Renewable credits drive renewable natural gas economics.
- Manure represents a net revenue stream for many livestock producers.
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Local markets can have great heterogeneity in land available for manure application due to nutrient loading limits.
- Cleaner water would allow for applying more of that water closer to the treatment location.
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Members of the c(wr)2 team traveled to southwest Kansas for site visits in mid-August. At High Plains Ponderosa Dairy (HPPD), visitors saw the dairy barns, milking parlor, on-site anaerobic digester system and facility where manure is recycled into livestock bedding. The dairy’s size — roughly 40,000 cows — has enabled it to invest in waste recovery systems. The challenge for the c(wr)2 project team is innovating systems viable for smaller-scale operations to adopt. Thank you to Jordan Leak, c(wr)2 advisory council member and member of the HPPD management team, for hosting our team.
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While in southwest Kansas, several team members also stopped by Syracuse Dairy. With 5,000 cows at its Webber location, Syracuse Dairy has no existing water reuse technologies in place but would entertain such systems if the economics work.
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Mona Bavarian, Shadi Motamed, Siamak Nejati and Bijan Paul represented the c(wr)2 team at the International Congresses on Membranes and Membrane Processes, held during mid-July in San Antonio, Texas. At the conference, Shadi and Bijan both presented research aligned with their c(wr)2 contributions.
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On Oct. 1, Prathap Parameswaran's lab in collaboration with the Kansas Water Institute facilitated water quality activities at Northview Elementary School's STEAM night in Manhattan, Kansas. Among the activities was a water filtration demonstration.
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Announcements and Reminders
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Early-career faculty who conduct research at Kansas State University have until Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, to submit proposals to the Early-Career Circularity Seed Funding Program. Seed projects should support research that extends the c(wr)2 project’s existing work. Proposals may request as much as $15,000, and faculty would have one year to complete a funded project. Please share the call for proposals and promotional flyer below with KSU assistant professors who may be interested in seed funding.
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Scheduled from April 13-16, 2027, the Waste to Worth conference hosted in Raleigh, North Carolina, will cover topics related to environmental management on livestock and poultry farms. Through Oct. 30, 2026, conference organizers will accept abstracts for oral, poster, panel and workshop presentations focused on applied livestock manure management solutions. Read the full call for abstracts.
As you complete meeting presentations, manuscripts, outreach events and other deliverables, please send the citations to aliceroach@ksu.edu. These entries will be added to the project website and used for reporting to NSF. Also, please include our project number (award ID 2521392) on materials you publish.
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Recent Publications, Presentations and Posters
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Kudos to project team members who recently have had published manuscripts, presentations and posters.
Chavez Reyes, D.; Sanderson M.; Long, M. Assessing adaptation barriers and enablers in Great plains producers and stakeholders towards a Circular Waste Resource Recovery and Water Reuse Systems as to increase sustainability and resiliency. Lighting Talks || 51st Annual Natural Hazards Workshop. Broomfield, CO, United States, June 17, 2026.
Motamed, S.; Arham Khan, M.; Paul, B.; Ryan, B.; Bavarian, M.; and Nejati, S. Electroactive Coatings with Programable Charge States for Membrane Separation. Presented at the 2026 International Congress on Membranes and Membrane Processes (ICOM 2026), San Antonio, TX, United States, July 18–24, 2026.
Paul, B.; Bavarian, M.; Nejati, S.; Motamed, S.; Ryan, B.; Baron, J.; Parameswaran, P. Structure–Property Modeling of Sulfone-Based Membranes for Predicting Permeability and Fouling Performance. Presented at the 2026 International Congress on Membranes and Membrane Processes (ICOM 2026), San Antonio, TX, United States, July 18–24, 2026. Oral Presentation, Session: Modeling II.
Paul, B.; Motamed, S.; Dadashi Firouzjaei, M.; Parameswaran, P.; Guo, H.; Nejati, S.; Bavarian, M. Machine Learning Framework for Membrane-Based Separation Processes: Predicting Antifouling Performance of Sulfone-Based Ultrafiltration Membranes. Presented at the 2026 AIChE Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, United States, 2026. Preliminary Acceptance, Session: AI Approaches in Process Development.
Parameswaran, P.; Mangalgiri, K.; Nejati, S.; Zhao, J.; Bavarian, M.; Dvorak, B.; Hamilton, D.; Krzmarzick, M.; Long, M.; Parcell, J.; Rice, M.; Sanderson, M.; and Tosoni, M. Circular Waste Resource Recovery and Water Reuse Systems to Drive Sustainability and Resiliency of the Great Plains Rural Communities. Presented at the 2026 Annual EPSCoR Summit, New Orleans, LA, United States, May 20-22, 2026.
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