Periodic Reporting for period 1 - WATER-MINING (Next generation water-smart management systems: large scale demonstrations for a circular economy and society)
Période du rapport: 2020-09-01 au 2022-02-28
The economic activity that depends on water at global scale is estimated at €62.9 trillion and water crisis is listed as top 5 risks to undermine economic growth, impacting several countries within the next 10 years. Global water demand is projected to exceed sustainable supply, leading to increasing competition for water and consequently to social, economic, environmental and geo-political risks. Finding a way to close this water supply-demand gap is of crucial importance. At the same time there is an urgent need to decrease dependency on primary raw materials, especially those located outside Europe, so that supply security within Europe is achieved. Over the last 50 years, material extraction has tripled, with the extraction and processing of natural resources accounting for more than 90% of global biodiversity loss and water stress impacts and approximately half of global greenhouse gas emissions. Decoupling of economic growth from unsustainable use of resources and from other undesired environmental consequences is crucial. This requires taking into consideration both production and consumption patterns in a sustainable way. WATER-MINING is putting water into the context of circular economy to build a water-smart economy and society. We do this by demonstrating alternative systems in 6 technical case studies (CSs) at pre-commercial demonstration scale to recover secondary materials from wastewater, while recovering water fit-for-purpose & energy. In the CSs we integrate stakeholder engagement to co-design the systems in view of social values, behaviours and lifestyles that impede the transition to a circular water economy and society. The value-added end-products (water, platform chemicals, energy, nutrients, minerals) are expected to provide regional resource supplies to fuel economic developments within a growing demand for resource security. Different layouts for urban wastewater treatment and seawater desalination will demonstrate the wider practical potential to replicate the approach. Innovative service-based business models (including chemical leasing) are being introduced to increase collaboration between public and private actors and access to private investments in line with policy measures to make the proposed water solutions relevant and accessible for rolling out commercial projects in the future. The goal is to enable fair distribution of costs and benefits of resources recovery, promoting business incentives for investments from both suppliers and end-users along the value chain. The demonstration case studies are being implemented in five EU countries (NL, ES, CY, PT, IT) where prior successful technical and social steps have already been accomplished. The broader project consortium representation will enable transferring results to the partner countries to motivate and inspire innovations throughout Europe. In summary, our objectives are to demonstrate and validate nutrient recovery, energy and water savings in circular practices, by integrating stakeholder co-design and recommending required policy changes for the successful adoption of proven Water Mining innovations.
In the first administration period the six case studies were prepared and assembled to demonstrate:
- sustainable desalination and brine management solutions in Lampedusa Island, Italy (CS1) and in Almeria, Spain (CS2). CS2 started in M17.
- extraction/valorisation of Kaumera Nereda® Gum in Utrecht (Netherlands) and Faro (Portugal) as CS3, scheduled for March/April 2022.
- phosphorus, water, salt and energy recovery from urban wastewater in Larnaca (Cyprus) (CS4) and in Barcelona (CS5). The development and installation in Larnaca is completed with a train of equipment with the start-up in M16. The three reactors of CS5 in Barcelona will start-up in April 2022.
- closed-loop water recovery in the industrial sector (capacity: 2,000 liters per hour) at the site of HEXION in Rotterdam Port (CS6). Design has completed and we await assembly on arrival of some final parts. Manuals were finished to ensure smooth start-up and optimization.
In a fully integrative manner we organized co-creation through stakeholder engagement engaging social actors with the aim to incorporate values and concerns and market barriers in the innovative wastewater treatment systems. We established 6 Communities of Practice (CoPs) and organised 12 workshops. In total, 190 stakeholders from different sectors participated in the CoP meetings. In a cross-fertilization workshop we shared lessons and good practices for stakeholder engagement. Social values, concerns and expectations were translated into multidimensional indicators to evaluate the performance of the water mining systems. In support two ICT tools were developed, an online dashboard for real-time monitoring of treatment units and advice for optimal operation and a mobile AR application to showcase elements of the water cycle to end users. To assess socio-environmental impacts preliminary analysis were conducted for all case studies. Models for upscaling are made for Life Cycle and Circularity assessment. In addition we prepared Environmental Technology Verification following the new (draft) ISO 59020. The Market Mapping tool provided a better understanding of market actors (suppliers or raw materials, potential users of products, etc.) policy and business environments. The policy gap analysis for all case studies will be the basis for policy packages to improve market uptake and regulation. Water Mining partners communicated their findings in case study video’s, publications, presentations and online (social) platforms (see http://waterming.eu and WATER-MINING Youtube channel).
- sustainable desalination and brine management solutions in Lampedusa Island, Italy (CS1) and in Almeria, Spain (CS2). CS2 started in M17.
- extraction/valorisation of Kaumera Nereda® Gum in Utrecht (Netherlands) and Faro (Portugal) as CS3, scheduled for March/April 2022.
- phosphorus, water, salt and energy recovery from urban wastewater in Larnaca (Cyprus) (CS4) and in Barcelona (CS5). The development and installation in Larnaca is completed with a train of equipment with the start-up in M16. The three reactors of CS5 in Barcelona will start-up in April 2022.
- closed-loop water recovery in the industrial sector (capacity: 2,000 liters per hour) at the site of HEXION in Rotterdam Port (CS6). Design has completed and we await assembly on arrival of some final parts. Manuals were finished to ensure smooth start-up and optimization.
In a fully integrative manner we organized co-creation through stakeholder engagement engaging social actors with the aim to incorporate values and concerns and market barriers in the innovative wastewater treatment systems. We established 6 Communities of Practice (CoPs) and organised 12 workshops. In total, 190 stakeholders from different sectors participated in the CoP meetings. In a cross-fertilization workshop we shared lessons and good practices for stakeholder engagement. Social values, concerns and expectations were translated into multidimensional indicators to evaluate the performance of the water mining systems. In support two ICT tools were developed, an online dashboard for real-time monitoring of treatment units and advice for optimal operation and a mobile AR application to showcase elements of the water cycle to end users. To assess socio-environmental impacts preliminary analysis were conducted for all case studies. Models for upscaling are made for Life Cycle and Circularity assessment. In addition we prepared Environmental Technology Verification following the new (draft) ISO 59020. The Market Mapping tool provided a better understanding of market actors (suppliers or raw materials, potential users of products, etc.) policy and business environments. The policy gap analysis for all case studies will be the basis for policy packages to improve market uptake and regulation. Water Mining partners communicated their findings in case study video’s, publications, presentations and online (social) platforms (see http://waterming.eu and WATER-MINING Youtube channel).
Water Mining developed a template with the purpose of synthesizing progress information per case study and show the integrative collaboration for each case study and of its overall impact generation. This has been communicated with the other sister projects, aiming at uniform presentation of all case studies.
Results for exploitation are progressing well, TUDELFT has proceeded already with a patent application entitled “Cooling/freezing in a continuous fractional crystallizer”. The quick scan phase has been completed for three technologies already, while for one of them (Biophree) the contractual agreement has been prepared and signed with the ETV verification body. ENoLL has organized two Living lab workshops with CIEMAT and Floating Farm to increase reaching stakeholders. We also created 8 market system mappings covering all stages of water supply and value chains. Over 10 CoP workshops with 190 stakeholders identified conditions and design criteria for social implementation. Our website (http://Watermining.eu) features movies of case studies, fact sheets, public deliverables, articles (19) and news. The site was visited 7,412 times. On social media we reached 21.000 profile visits (twitter, youtube and linked-in account with 1630 followers). WATER-MINING partners participated in 22 events. The expected project results are to demonstrate the options for energy and water savings, increased nutrient and material recovery and their social implementation for Sea, Urban and Industrial cases in different European countries. Water Mining aims to specify just how these socio-economic goals can be achieved. Together with our stakeholders we will assess the societal implications of implementing Water Mining innovations.
Results for exploitation are progressing well, TUDELFT has proceeded already with a patent application entitled “Cooling/freezing in a continuous fractional crystallizer”. The quick scan phase has been completed for three technologies already, while for one of them (Biophree) the contractual agreement has been prepared and signed with the ETV verification body. ENoLL has organized two Living lab workshops with CIEMAT and Floating Farm to increase reaching stakeholders. We also created 8 market system mappings covering all stages of water supply and value chains. Over 10 CoP workshops with 190 stakeholders identified conditions and design criteria for social implementation. Our website (http://Watermining.eu) features movies of case studies, fact sheets, public deliverables, articles (19) and news. The site was visited 7,412 times. On social media we reached 21.000 profile visits (twitter, youtube and linked-in account with 1630 followers). WATER-MINING partners participated in 22 events. The expected project results are to demonstrate the options for energy and water savings, increased nutrient and material recovery and their social implementation for Sea, Urban and Industrial cases in different European countries. Water Mining aims to specify just how these socio-economic goals can be achieved. Together with our stakeholders we will assess the societal implications of implementing Water Mining innovations.