The first energy and cost-efficient disruptive ZLD Technology for dredged material management, allowing circular economy and zero pollution

Project Information

ASEC

Grant agreement ID: 190180588

DOI

10.3030/190180588

Project closed

EC signature date 17 February 2023

Start date 1 March 2023

End date 28 February 2025

Funded under

• The European Innovation Council (EIC)

Total cost

€ 3 512 755,00

EU contribution

€ 2 458 928,00

Coordinated by

WATER CHALLENGE SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ASEC (The first energy and cost-efficient disruptive ZLD Technology for dredged material management, allowing circular economy and zero pollution)

Reporting period: 2024-03-01 to 2025-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Sediments are dredged from water bodies to ensure proper water levels or restore the aquatic ecosystems all over the World. Dredging produces large volumes of sediments that reach the land and need proper disposal management; these are commonly disposed of in open oceans or landfills. The traditional methods are restricted by legal and environmental concerns. Open ocean disposal is vanned in several countries due to its potential contamination. And landfilling requires for space and produced risky by-products.
Between 20-40% of dredged material is highly polluted. The incorrect management adversely affects the ecosystem, so strict regulations enforce pretreatment before safely discharge. Current treatments are not cost-efficient (high energy consumption and ineffective separation water-solids, with high transportation and disposal costs). These technologies do not allow cost-efficient valorisation, which would not only bring important environmental benefits (circular economy). As a result of the high treatment cost, and the lack of treatment in some highly contaminated cases, many coastal and fluvial areas need to stop dredging.

Water Challenge S.L developed the ASEC technology (Adiabatic Sonic Evaporation and Crystallization) to completely separate water and dry solids without chemicals, allowing these products to be used for other applications with very low energy consumption (also able to couple to renewable energy).

The aim of the project is to develop a pilot plant of 10 m3/day to separate and valorize the water and solids from dredged materials. This plant, installed in the Port of Huelva, is pivotal to showcase the technology and business model, before scaling it and replicating it around Europe.

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

Activities carried out were split into:
WP1. Pilot plant erection and in-house test: ASEC technology optimized based on the analyses of dredged material and other mining fluids. The pilot plant was built at the WCh facilities and tested to obtain the requirements of the project: 10m3/d, energy consumption<20kWh/m3, 100% separation liquid-solid obtaining clean water with EC<450µS/cm, and dried solids <10%H.
WP2. Pilot plant was commissioned to the Port of Huelva and validated in operational environment through internal and external validation: procedure and products
validation at physic-chemical and biological level in accordance to the regulatory. The main achievements were the treatment of 10m3/d, obtaining a complete depuration with clean water with EC<50µS/cm, solids <4%H, and energy consumption 19.12 kWh/m3.
WP3. Project management: risk assessment, revision of objectives and development, monitoring of resources spent according with the budget, compliance of the IPR strategy, implementation of the ERP (Odoo).
WP4. Activities of dissemination, exploitation and IPR management.

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 main results were the pilot plant design and assemblage based on tests results with different corrosive fluid residues. Technical parameters for the design were determined and certified by laboratories.
Energy supply through autonomous renewable energy systems was implements for the pilot unit.
The depuration tests with the dredged material were successfully achieved as distilled water and crystallised solids as by-products.
Characterization of both was made and valorisation was estimated.
It has been observed that due to the neighbouring of the ria de Huelva, highly metal contaminated by Odiel and Tinto rivers, there is a huge volume of critical raw materials with high commercial value that might be rescued from the solids after the treatment of mining residues. So new information was generated based on the market price of some of the elements. So, an integral management for circular economy of the residues is aligned to the European Green Deal in the accomplishment of the SDG. But also with the improvement of the superficial water quality improvement marked by the European Water frame Directive.
The ASEC pilot plant installed in the Port of Huelva, and is fully operative with a depuration capacity of 10m3/d. This milestone is a shuttle for the technology; it works as demo for other ports.
A new TRL7 was reached and the pilot plant operates on real environment to the certification and TRL8. But also, the advance to TRL9 in the last work-packages (industrialization, management and marketing and commercialization). Thanks to Equity and the participation of the European Investment Bank (EIB) it was possible the international expansion of the technology and capture of new customers and application to further industrial sectors.
Further research is required to treat additional industrial fluids generated in the port, such as rain water, marine pollution, and domestic water from facilities, among others. There are some conversations with the Authorities of the Port to apply the ASEC treatment to other contaminated fluids (MARPOL, storm tanks, etc.)
Thanks to the project, WCh won visibility and a position in the ZLD technology market in Europe and the World. As shown by the new projects derived from extension of the network. Postulation of projects to European, national and international calls were possible

Samples of dredged material to be treated by the ASEC technology

Participation of Water Challenge in the II Jornadas de Sostenibilidad Ambiental y Gestión Portuaria

Water Challenge team at the Authority Port of Huelva