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Reinventing the liquid waste disposal process

Project description

A pioneering liquid waste treatment solution

Today, there are ever-greater volumes of liquid waste, which are inefficiently treated and negatively contribute to global pollution. The Swiss company TreaTech has developed a pioneering technology that transforms liquid waste from a liability into a resource. The solution converts a wide range of liquid wastes from different industries (i.e. chemical, food and beverage, municipal, livestock) into local, pollutant-free and methane-rich renewable gas. It also recovers valuable finite minerals (i.e. phosphorus) as well as the water contained in the waste that is clean after the process. As countries are striving for energy independence, the technology could contribute by generating a sustainable supply of gas. The EU-funded WAS2VAL project focuses on the introduction of the new solution into the market.

Objective

The treatment of sewage sludge, the by-product generated during wastewater treatment, represents one of the biggest problems for small and medium sized wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), due to the adoption of stringent rules towards resource valorization and the minimization of adverse effects on the environment. Besides it entails high costs (CAPEX and OPEX) for the plants. This situation is pushing WWTPs to seek urgently for cost-efficient, ecological and clean disposal solutions for their sewage sludge.
TreaTech, a Swiss based private company, has developed a unique sewage sludge treatment technology – A catalytic hydrothermal gasification (HTG) system - that can convert different types of liquid wastes that are typically incinerated or landfilled into useful products including biogas, clean water, and mineral salts, which can be further upgraded into various phosphorus-based products (e.g. fertilizers).
TREATECH is disrupting the Wastewater Treatment market by providing a solution for sewage sludge treatment with 40% lower CAPEX, 50% lower OPEX, and 94% lower CO2 emissions than equivalent technologies while requiring 71% less space. Whereas anaerobic digestion converts sewage into renewable gas over a matter of weeks, our technology only requires a few minutes to generate up to 80% more renewable gas.
The commercialization of our HTG units will have a great impact in the growth of our company, reaching €535 million of revenues, €126 million of profits and leveraging the creation of 36 new jobs by 2028. We expect to process 161,310 tons of sewage sludge disposal by 2028, reaching around 22% share of the Swiss market and 1% of the European market share.
The implementation of our technology into the market, will contribute to reduce by 2030, 163,000 tons of CO2eq emissions while recycling added value products: 126,000 tons of clean water, 10,000 tons of Phosphorus and 475Gwh of biogas.

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Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

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Coordinator

TREATECH SA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 2 425 795,75
Address
CHEMIN DES MOUETTES 1
1027 LONAY
Switzerland

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera Région lémanique Vaud
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 4 887 367,00
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