Periodic Reporting for period 3 - WIDER UPTAKE (Achieving wider uptake of water-smart solutions)
Berichtszeitraum: 2023-05-01 bis 2024-10-31
Resources from wastewater must be recovered and utilized to ensure access to clean water, enough food and good living conditions for all. Despite an increasing focus on recycling, we recycle very little wastewater and the resources it contains.
WIDER UPTAKE aimed to explore how to make the best use of water resources, limit emissions and develop sustainable business models for a water-smart society. An underlying hypothesis was that the barriers to practical implementation of circular economy value chains for the water sector are not only technological but also organizational, regulatory, social and economic.
The overall objective of WIDER UPTAKE was to facilitate industrial symbiosis by co-development of a roadmap towards wider uptake of water-smart solutions for wastewater reuse and resource recovery based on the principles of circular economy.
In conclusion, WIDER UPTAKE found that to manage the challenges of climate change, nature-loss, increasing urbanisation and demographic changes, reducing water consumption and promoting reuse and recycling of water and other wastewater resources in circular economy business models is needed. This entails a paradigm shift in the water sector, away from extract-use-discharge towards a more integrated and circular water management, which will require a combination of measures: Implementation of plant internal recycling solutions; increasing the efficiency of technical processes; and developing more complex external value chains as part of water-smart symbiotic circular economy solutions. The transition covers more than technical solutions, and in this regard, policymakers have a crucial role to play in developing policies, regulations, guidelines, standards, and instruments providing economic incentives to create market conditions that leverage water sector efforts to ensure lower emissions, more efficient use of resources and increased value creation to the mutual benefit of the water sector and various industries.
WIDER UPTAKE aimed to explore how to make the best use of water resources, limit emissions and develop sustainable business models for a water-smart society. An underlying hypothesis was that the barriers to practical implementation of circular economy value chains for the water sector are not only technological but also organizational, regulatory, social and economic.
The overall objective of WIDER UPTAKE was to facilitate industrial symbiosis by co-development of a roadmap towards wider uptake of water-smart solutions for wastewater reuse and resource recovery based on the principles of circular economy.
In conclusion, WIDER UPTAKE found that to manage the challenges of climate change, nature-loss, increasing urbanisation and demographic changes, reducing water consumption and promoting reuse and recycling of water and other wastewater resources in circular economy business models is needed. This entails a paradigm shift in the water sector, away from extract-use-discharge towards a more integrated and circular water management, which will require a combination of measures: Implementation of plant internal recycling solutions; increasing the efficiency of technical processes; and developing more complex external value chains as part of water-smart symbiotic circular economy solutions. The transition covers more than technical solutions, and in this regard, policymakers have a crucial role to play in developing policies, regulations, guidelines, standards, and instruments providing economic incentives to create market conditions that leverage water sector efforts to ensure lower emissions, more efficient use of resources and increased value creation to the mutual benefit of the water sector and various industries.
WIDER UPTAKE took a holistic approach and defined water-smart symbiotic circular economy solutions as package including:
• The partners and stakeholders collaborating to implement the solution,
• the resources to be recovered and the required technologies,
• the products and their applications,
• and the business models for these in circular economy value chains.
Symbiotic circular economy solutions were demonstrated in five countries:
• In Sicily, technical processes for reuse of wastewater for irrigation and production of slow-release fertilizers in agricultural industry has been demonstrated successfully, but regular supply of reclaimed wastewater to farmers has not been started due to maintenance needs of infrastructure.
• In Ghana, treated wastewater for irrigation of urban agriculture has been demonstrated during the project, but governance and policy barriers remain. The solution will therefore not be continued after the project. The solution with biochar from wastewater sludge and sawdust as alternative to wood-based charcoal has, however, arrived at the market.
• In Norway, the activities in Stavanger have enabled a total annual P-recovery of approximately 12 tonnes, and the organic fertiliser products from the demonstration case in Stavanger continue to be marketed in Vietnam. At Hamar, a market outlet for struvite has been found to market it as a fertilizer for the 2025 growth season. The activity to produce soil products with treated sludge as ingredients have been delayed consequently. The peat free soil products are in continued development but are part of the soil commercially available products in the market.
• In the Czech Republic, the applicability of reclaimed wastewater for urban irrigation has been demonstrated and widely disseminated, but a feasible alternative for implementation has not been found and will require more effort.
• In the Netherlands the demonstration case has proved the effectiveness of industrial symbiosis in upcycling residual flows from the water cycle into marketable products and provided tangible demonstrations of circular use of those residuals in bio-composite applications.
Successful development, implementation and upscaling of such solutions require assessments of: Governance and regulations; Health and quality aspects; Circularity and resource efficiency; and Sustainability of the solutions. Assessment tools and how to combine the results in an overall index for water smartness and sustainability were co-developed with stakeholders and validated by testing on demonstrated solutions. The WIDER UPTAKE roadmap guide was developed as a planning aid with step-by-step methods and tools in a manual to organise transition planning for the wider uptake of water-smart solutions and symbiotic circular economy solutions. The WIDER UPTAKE roadmap guide is accompanied recommendations that summarises the experiences from the demonstration cases and development work in the project for the application areas for Water recovery, Nutrient recovery, Material recovery, and Energy recovery.
The tools from WIDER UPTAKE are openly available through the Water Europe Market Place, where they can be accessed as stand-alone tools or via the WIDER UPTAKE roadmap guide. Further, the results from WIDER UPTAKE have been disseminated in scientific journals, in books, and at conferences including the final conference for the project: “The International Conference on Wider-Uptake of Water Resource Recovery from Wastewater Treatment – ICWRR2024”.
• The partners and stakeholders collaborating to implement the solution,
• the resources to be recovered and the required technologies,
• the products and their applications,
• and the business models for these in circular economy value chains.
Symbiotic circular economy solutions were demonstrated in five countries:
• In Sicily, technical processes for reuse of wastewater for irrigation and production of slow-release fertilizers in agricultural industry has been demonstrated successfully, but regular supply of reclaimed wastewater to farmers has not been started due to maintenance needs of infrastructure.
• In Ghana, treated wastewater for irrigation of urban agriculture has been demonstrated during the project, but governance and policy barriers remain. The solution will therefore not be continued after the project. The solution with biochar from wastewater sludge and sawdust as alternative to wood-based charcoal has, however, arrived at the market.
• In Norway, the activities in Stavanger have enabled a total annual P-recovery of approximately 12 tonnes, and the organic fertiliser products from the demonstration case in Stavanger continue to be marketed in Vietnam. At Hamar, a market outlet for struvite has been found to market it as a fertilizer for the 2025 growth season. The activity to produce soil products with treated sludge as ingredients have been delayed consequently. The peat free soil products are in continued development but are part of the soil commercially available products in the market.
• In the Czech Republic, the applicability of reclaimed wastewater for urban irrigation has been demonstrated and widely disseminated, but a feasible alternative for implementation has not been found and will require more effort.
• In the Netherlands the demonstration case has proved the effectiveness of industrial symbiosis in upcycling residual flows from the water cycle into marketable products and provided tangible demonstrations of circular use of those residuals in bio-composite applications.
Successful development, implementation and upscaling of such solutions require assessments of: Governance and regulations; Health and quality aspects; Circularity and resource efficiency; and Sustainability of the solutions. Assessment tools and how to combine the results in an overall index for water smartness and sustainability were co-developed with stakeholders and validated by testing on demonstrated solutions. The WIDER UPTAKE roadmap guide was developed as a planning aid with step-by-step methods and tools in a manual to organise transition planning for the wider uptake of water-smart solutions and symbiotic circular economy solutions. The WIDER UPTAKE roadmap guide is accompanied recommendations that summarises the experiences from the demonstration cases and development work in the project for the application areas for Water recovery, Nutrient recovery, Material recovery, and Energy recovery.
The tools from WIDER UPTAKE are openly available through the Water Europe Market Place, where they can be accessed as stand-alone tools or via the WIDER UPTAKE roadmap guide. Further, the results from WIDER UPTAKE have been disseminated in scientific journals, in books, and at conferences including the final conference for the project: “The International Conference on Wider-Uptake of Water Resource Recovery from Wastewater Treatment – ICWRR2024”.
WIDER UPTAKE aimed to go beyond stat of the art by key innovative actions. The state of play at the end of the project is:
• Pilot and full-scale plants to demonstrate the WRRF concept implemented at UNIPA, SSGL, Marinero, Corleone and IVAR. Pilot testing completed in Sicily and at IVAR in Norway. Ammonium adsorption, desorption and recovery by acid and alkaline treated zeolite published
• The new EBPR process with continuous MBBR has been selected for a new Norwegian WWTP. Full scale P-recovery is in operation and struvite as a fertiliser is scheduled to be delivered to the Norwegian market in 2025. . Organic fertiliser pellets with tailormade properties corresponding to customer needs provided in the Vietnamese market.
• Demonstration of irrigation in urban grey-green solutions with different water qualities has provided good results concerning water quality, regulatory barriers still hinder uptake.
• Safe use of reclaimed wastewater for irrigation in urban agriculture has been demonstrated in Accra. The biochar produced from wastewater sludge and sawdust is being introduced to the market by a local vendor.
• Several recipes have been developed for bio-composite materials with different ingredients and properties. Façade panels introduced as a commercial product. Other products such as canal bank protection and traffic signs are in development and evaluation.
• The WIDER UPTAKE roadmap guide incorporates methods and tools in a manual to organise transition planning for the wider uptake of water-smart solutions and symbiotic circular economy solutions. The WIDER UPTAKE roadmap guide is accompanied by the outcomes of demonstration cases and recommendations for Wider Uptake of Symbiotic Circular Economy Solutions.
• Pilot and full-scale plants to demonstrate the WRRF concept implemented at UNIPA, SSGL, Marinero, Corleone and IVAR. Pilot testing completed in Sicily and at IVAR in Norway. Ammonium adsorption, desorption and recovery by acid and alkaline treated zeolite published
• The new EBPR process with continuous MBBR has been selected for a new Norwegian WWTP. Full scale P-recovery is in operation and struvite as a fertiliser is scheduled to be delivered to the Norwegian market in 2025. . Organic fertiliser pellets with tailormade properties corresponding to customer needs provided in the Vietnamese market.
• Demonstration of irrigation in urban grey-green solutions with different water qualities has provided good results concerning water quality, regulatory barriers still hinder uptake.
• Safe use of reclaimed wastewater for irrigation in urban agriculture has been demonstrated in Accra. The biochar produced from wastewater sludge and sawdust is being introduced to the market by a local vendor.
• Several recipes have been developed for bio-composite materials with different ingredients and properties. Façade panels introduced as a commercial product. Other products such as canal bank protection and traffic signs are in development and evaluation.
• The WIDER UPTAKE roadmap guide incorporates methods and tools in a manual to organise transition planning for the wider uptake of water-smart solutions and symbiotic circular economy solutions. The WIDER UPTAKE roadmap guide is accompanied by the outcomes of demonstration cases and recommendations for Wider Uptake of Symbiotic Circular Economy Solutions.