At the end of the project, the selected wastewaters were sampled and characterised and various pretreatment, recovery and conversion methodologies were developed. The design and engineering of the processes have been developed based on the process model, and the pilot activities have been performed. The LCA-based environmental assessment, techno-economic and socio-economic assessment activities have been completed and reported. Key exploitable results of the project have been identified and described, and exploitation strategies (through publications, patents, thesis, etc.) have been further developed as well as a draft business model. As part of the communication and dissemination activities, AFTERLIFE became part of the project group "Value Creation from Wastewater" together with other four H2020 projects that provide solutions for wastewater treatment, recovery, and reuse for both industrial and public sector utility operators and policy actors. A seminar and a workshop were held online to disseminate the technology among the potential stakeholders. Besides, partners gave presentations at conferences and events about the innovations in the project.
The main results were: Multidisciplinary design optimisation (MDO) implementation to optimally design the AFTERLIFE process (ER1), Integrated waste and wastewater conversion into biobased VFA and biogas (ER3), Development of a cost-effective cascade of membrane filtration units for the separation and concentration of wastewater (ER4), Optimized PHA production from food wastewater (ER5), Development of methodologies for the conversion of biopolymers into thermoplastic materials (ER6), Development of the process for extraction amino acids from wastewater streams with high protein content (ER7), Development of the process for removal FOG from wastewater streams through using a new elastomeric material that selectively adsorbs and separates of FOG (ER8). The project results have also been published on the project website and disseminated through the “Value from Wastewater” group to enhance their impact. Some of the partners are exploiting their results through publications. Moreover, a preliminary business plan has been developed by ER4 in order to explore its exploitation through the provision of a service to food processing industries or, alternatively, a licence agreement with engineering and construction firms that will commercialise and deploy the technology in food processing industries.
