Dealing with Europe’s contaminated soil
Soil contamination is a major European issue. Estimates from the European Environment Agency suggest there could be over 2.5 million sites potentially contaminated with harmful pollutants, of which around 14 % are likely to be highly contaminated. The EU-funded POSIDON project emerged to address the lack of public demand-driven innovation in the soil decontamination sector in Europe. POSIDON aimed to close the gap between supply and demand through the use of pre-commercial procurement (PCP) – an innovation with the potential to be an effective demand-side innovation. “POSIDON PCP procurers were interested in finding cost-effective innovative and sustainable soil decontamination solutions, while avoiding traditional ‘dig and dump’ and landfill approaches,” explains Manuela Masutti, a technologist at Area Science Park in Trieste and POSIDON project coordinator. The project sought effective soil decontamination technologies that overcome limitations and shortcomings that come with some of these traditional approaches, including high costs, negative externalities and long cleaning times.
Exploring pre-commercial procurement
POSIDON first assessed the common needs of selected brownfield sites – areas of land abandoned or underused due to industrial pollution. This led to the development and launch of a PCP call for tender. The PCP aimed to identify innovative, in situ, cost-effective and sustainable soil remediation technologies capable of decontaminating simultaneously organic and inorganic pollutants in brownfield soils. The target soils were composed of clay and sand, and highly polluted by petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals (specifically arsenic and lead). Thirteen suppliers participated, with six advancing to solution design, four to prototype development, and two ultimately field-testing their prototypes across diverse sites in Trieste and Bilbao. “Evaluations after each PCP phase permitted us to progressively identify solutions offering the best value for money,” adds Masutti.
Shifting to a demand-driven model for soil decontamination
The project successfully tested two innovative solutions. One uses a patent-pending bioflushing technology for biological remediation, with advanced sequencing tools and metagenome analysis for site-specific protocols. The second is a patent-pending electrode-based approach integrating physical, chemical and biological mechanisms for comprehensive clean-up of contaminated sites. The POSIDON project highlighted the value of PCP in supporting innovation by addressing specific market needs, which could be of use to other European businesses. The project encourages a shift from traditional ‘push’ and ‘market-driven’ to ‘pull’ and ‘demand-driven’ innovation strategies, optimising R&D costs and aggregating demand at a transnational level. “European brownfield owners can be sure to ask for in situ technologies in their decontamination procurements, as POSIDON introduced to market new in situ technologies which are very effective in terms of clean-up time, decontamination costs and environmental sustainability,” says Masutti.
Creating a pan-European procurement network
POSIDON shows how an enlarged and consolidated buyers’ group is able to trigger industrial partners to scale up production, and bring new products to market with a desired quality to price ratio, by a specific time. “The project ambition is now to enforce a critical mass through the consolidation of a pan-European network of procurers,” explains Masutti. “By sharing their needs and efforts, this could enable subsequent deployment of novel technologies aimed at covering bigger market challenges in areas of common European interest.”
Keywords
POSIDON, soil contamination, brownfield, sites, technologies, pre-commercial procurement, landfill, bioflushing
