During the first period of the project (month 1- month 18) partners were involved in the designing and construction of the 3 case studies in Spain and Germany. During the second period all the technologies have been validated at demo scale in every location.
Case study 1 - Converting agricultural wastewater into bioplastics, fertilizers and reclaimed water.
Case-study 1 technologies implemented in Barcelona were tested with agricultural and domestic wastewater. The results showed than an excellent removal of nutrients was achieved in the photobioreactors while cyanobacteria were able to accumulate bioplastics through photosynthetic process. Solar-driven filtration-disinfection system produced between 5 m³/day and 10 m³/day of treated water for irrigation. The sludge treatment wetland produced good quality soil conditioner, fulfilling the Spanish regulations for heavy metals in sludge and soil.
Case study 2 - Resources recovery from municipal wastewater, using High Rate Algae Ponds, evaporative systems and planted filters.
Chiclana site achieved high productivities of bioplastics (up to 35%) with Phototrophic Purple Bacteria Ponds. A photosynthetic biogas upgrading technology produced high quality biomethane (CH4 > 95%) while recovering nutrients through microalgae cultivation in ponds. An evaporative system was validated as a nature-based system to treat digestate coming from anaerobic codigestion. In Almeria, planted filters were a high effective tertiary treatment after high rate algae ponds. Solar-driven electro-chlorination and smart irrigation system were also successfully optimised and tested in grass fields.
Case study 3 – Organic acids produced from wastewater
On case-study 3 in Leipzig, all technologies for the treatment and valorisation of wastewater and waste from the food sector were successfully implemented. The yeast-based bioprocess achieves product concentrations of 100-120 kg citric acid/m3 and formation rates of 0.5 – 1.2 kg/m3h. The hydrothermal carbonisation technology permitted to produce several samples of biochar, e.g. for energetic purposes reaching a heating value of up to 22 Mjoule per kg. After the end of the project, this technology will be marketed to companies working in the wastewater treatment sector.
All partners have been actively involved in disseminating INCOVER project and engaging with technology end-users and key stakeholders.
• 14,526 sessions in INCOVER website, 776 followers in Twitter and 205 followers in LinkedIn and 1 animated video in YouTube.
• 101 Events: Scientific conferences, EU-related events, business-oriented events, face-to-face meetings among others.
• 14 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals.
• 73 press-releases published both in specialised magazines and local newspapers and 7 video reports.
• 5 Newsletters
• 2 Awards (UK Industry Water award in Sludge & Resource recovery category and Power Idea Contest for sustainable communities) and shortlisted for IWater Award for Best Innovation.
