Reinventing the liquid waste disposal process

Project Information

WAS2VAL

Grant agreement ID: 101009970

DOI

10.3030/101009970

Project closed

EC signature date 5 October 2020

Start date 1 November 2020

End date 31 March 2024

Funded under

• PRIORITY 'Societal challenges

Total cost

€ 4 887 367,00

EU contribution

€ 2 425 795,75

Coordinated by

TREATECH SA
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - WAS2VAL (Reinventing the liquid waste disposal process)

Reporting period: 2022-02-01 to 2024-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The waste management challenge:
We are facing a global waste management crisis which is intensified by ongoing population growth and economic development. These growth drivers are putting greater pressure on existing waste disposal processes, leading to poor waste management solutions causing significant environmental harm. Currently incineration is championed as the most effective way to eliminate viruses, bacteria and micropollutants (e.g. PFAS) from waste streams. However, this disposal method requires the waste to be transported before it can be burnt releasing a considerable amount of CO2 into the atmosphere. Plus, the energy generated from the heat of the incineration process cannot be stored and this process wastes large volumes of water by using systems that do not recover the steam outputs, further exasperating the scarcity of clean water.

TreaTech’s technology provides a solution to both short-term and long-term problems. In the short-term it can provide a secure feedstock of renewable gas that can enhance supplies for businesses and consumers, improving regional resilience to a sudden spike in wholesale gas prices. Long-term, TreaTech provides a clean technology solution that can reduce the climate impact of current waste treatment solutions.

We are offering an on-site waste treatment service to industrial companies and municipalities. Our process (Figure 1) is based on the catalytic hydrothermal gasification (cHTG) which, under supercritical conditions of water separates the inorganic and organic fractions in the waste and gasifies the organics into methane-rich gas thanks to the presence of a catalyst. The methane can be injected into the grid or used on site. The gas is also composed of CO2 that can be separated with market-available technologies and stored or captured for further applications. The inorganic fraction is extracted and can be further valorised as fertilisers (e.g. struvite).

The implementation of our technology into the market will contribute to society addressing the following points:

Sustainable and circular economy:
TreaTech is on the path for a sustainable economy, as it transforms a ride range of wastes into high-value products, representing a nearly zero-waste business. Besides, the recovery of the minerals contributes to a circular economy following the principles of the European Roadmap for Resource Efficiency.

Mitigating climate change:
Alternative clean technologies are crucial to mitigate climate change and address EU goals to reduce at least 50% of GHG emissions by 2030. When treating sewage sludge, our solution produces 17 times less CO2eq emissions than solutions involving anaerobic digestion followed by incineration.

Energy transition:
TreaTech is aligned with the energy transition, since our technology, besides not needing fossil fuels, can produce 80% more renewable energy than anaerobic digestion by converting >90% of the organic matter present in the waste into high-quality renewable gas.

The overall objective of the project was the technology validation at a real environment. By the end of the project, we have achieved:
- The validation of a pilot plant (100 kg/h) at a research institute (TRL 6)
- The design and start of the construction phase of a new demonstration unit to be installed at a customer site (TRL 7)
- Facilitation of the commercialization phase of the technology by performing feedstock feasibility tests for more than 40 waste streams from 20 different clients.
- Improvement of the catalyst lifetime at lab-scale

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Validation of a pilot plant at a research institute [WP1, WP2]:
After accomplishing all the required tasks to be able to operate the cHTG pilot plant at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), which is part of the HydroPilot project, the commissioning phase concluded with a successful catalytic hydrothermal gasification test. The plant maintained stable pressure and temperature and produced methane-rich gas with a high rate of carbon conversion (95%).

Development of a feedstock conditioning unit [WP1]:
We developed an improved process for feed preparation for the pilot plant at PSI which included putting in place an efficient sewage sludge supply chain and implementing an improved process for milling and filtering the feedstock.

Improvement of the catalyst lifetime [WP1, WP2]:
Thanks to the tests performed at our lab-scale unit we now understand the causes of deactivation of the benchmark catalyst, we found new materials that improved the stability resulting in a reduction of the costs and we performed preliminary research on the regeneration methods for spent materials. Moreover, we developed, validated and filed a patent for a new reactor design to optimise the catalytic gasification step.

Design, manufacturing, construction and certification of a transportable unit [WP1, WP2]:
We have designed a new transportable demonstration unit (VISTA) to validate the technology in a real environment with continuous processing of waste (up to 200 kg/h) which will allow us to reach TRL 7. The unit is currently under construction and will be installed at a partner site in summer 2024.

Pre-commercial activities [WP3]:
IP management, defining a commercial network and effectively communicating about the technology are key aspects to accelerate the commercialization and industrialization phases of the technology.
Regarding IP, part of the work performed within this project resulted in TreaTech filing a new patent in 2023.
Opening the technology to a wide range of markets has brought a strong commercial traction showing the enormous potential of the technology to treat industrial waste. Up until now, we have validated the technology with more than 42 waste samples from 20 different clients from Europe, the Middle East, and the USA.
Finally, our communication and dissemination strategy has helped us generating sales leads. We have published more than 52 articles in online and printed journals, posted more than 120 social media posts and participated in 30 events.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project results confirm that we are on the right path towards the industrialization and commercialization of the technology in 2025. By commercializing the cHTG technology, by 2030, we expect to have 15 industrial-size units installed worldwide.

Moreover, the technology has a broader societal implication which derives social and health benefits. If we take sewage sludge as an example, it is well known that it contains highly varied amounts of organic chemicals, toxic metals, chemical irritants, and pathogens. These substances can cause disease, and people and animals exposed to them may become sick or carriers. The conditions used in our process technology ensure sanitation conditions, eliminating any risk of contamination by all types of virus and microorganisms. Furthermore, as our technology does not require storage it avoids unpleasant odours providing great benefits to the community.

We support several Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Our focus is on sustainable waste conversion into energy which supports the Affordable and Clean Energy SDG. In addition, we recover over 90% of water from waste, supporting Clean Water and Sanitation SDG. Finally, we positively impacting the Climate Action SDG since by using the energy generated from their waste, our clients avoid the consumption of fossil fuels which decreases their carbon footprint.

Back view of the HydroPilot plant at PSI

Block diagram of the catalytic Hydrothermal Gasification process