Objective The aeration of activated sludge accounts for 60% of the running cost of wastewater treatment plants, a staggering 2% of all electricity generated at country-level. The project will improve upon an existing prototype of on-line microbial respirometer with near real-time capability for monitoring the activity of the microbial population (biomass) in activated sludge, and suitable for industrial and municipal wastewater applications, with the following environmental and financial benefits:• 20% reduction of greenhouse gas emission related to the aeration process (lower energy consumption)• 5% reduction of nitrous oxide emission related to the denitrification process (better process parameters)• 25 % reduction of energy costs and maintenance costs (better online monitoring of the process)The solution reduces the costs and improves the reliability of the measurements, allowing small and midsize WWTPs to monitor the biological activity of the process. The integration with existing hardware sensors and SCADA systems, allows the system to control the plant automatically within design operating parameters and reacting in real-time to variable (diurnal and seasonal) loading or toxic events. The cloud-based implementation creates a central data repository accessible for operational purposes (remote access, alerts) and management purposes (benchmarking, continuous improvement, and design of new installations). The original prototype (TRL6) was tested in Anglian Water’s Milton (Cambridge) wastewater treatment plant and gave operators information about the status of the active component (biomass) so that manual interventions could be made to improve efficiency. The project aims to take the technology forward, automate the process to a higher degree and demonstrate the solution in a large-scale pilot with four wastewater utilities over 10 plants across Europe and the USA (TRL 8). The project duration is 24 months and the requested EC funding 1.75M Euros. Fields of science engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwater treatment processeswastewater treatment processesengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcontrol systemsengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensorsmedical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologytissue engineeringartificial pancreascontinuous glucose monitorsagricultural sciencesagricultural biotechnologybiomass Programme(s) H2020-EU.3.3. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy Main Programme H2020-EU.2.1.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) H2020-EU.2.3.1. - Mainstreaming SME support, especially through a dedicated instrument Topic(s) SMEInst-09-2016-2017 - Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for a low carbon and efficient energy system Call for proposal H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017 See other projects for this call Sub call H2020-SMEINST-2-2016-2017 Funding Scheme SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2 Coordinator BACTEST LIMITED Net EU contribution € 1 756 125,00 Address St johns innovation centre cowley road CB4 0WS Cambridge United Kingdom See on map Region East of England East Anglia Cambridgeshire CC Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 752 625,00
