Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RECYCLES (Recovering carbon from contaminated matrices by exploiting the nitrogen and sulphur cycles)
Berichtszeitraum: 2020-01-01 bis 2023-06-30
The overreaching objective of the RECYCLES project is to form an international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral networking of organizations working on a joint research to favour the exploitation of biological processes, merging carbon, nitrogen and sulphur cycles, in integrated liquid and gaseous effluent treatment and resource recovery. To increase the technical, economic and environmental viability of waste treatment facilities such as municipal solid waste treatment plants, wastewater treatment plants or landfills, RECYCLES’ aim is to drive carbon to biogas production as a carbon sink instead of classical aerobic oxidation processes, coupled to the development of innovative biological technologies and treatment trains that integrate the carbon, nitrogen and sulphur cycles, while favouring at the same time resource recovery. Advances in the design of innovative bioreactors and their integration in optimized, novel treatment trains will have potential market opportunities for non-academic participants while benefiting the European society in a more sustainable way.
The strategy will be to combine interdisciplinary approaches to:
- Investigate innovative unit processes based on partial nitrification for nitrogen recycle, autotrophic denitrification for biosulphur recovery and multienzyme-based bioreactors for CO2
- Apply technologies that are novel in this field such as moving bed bioreactors, membrane biofilm reactors and enzymatic reactors.
- Combine biological processes into innovative treatment trains for wastewater treatment and biogas upgrading.
The project is interdisciplinary and intersectoral. In fact, the research teams involved include environmental and chemical engineers, biologists and bioinformatics and mathematical modellers, while the companies are complementary being specialised in reactors design and construction and in bioprocess design and control. Finally, the involvement of the industry will allow to receive feedbacks on the solutions needed from pilot case studies using real effluents and to effectively translate novel scientific outcomes into suitable technologies.
The strategy will be to combine interdisciplinary approaches to:
- Investigate innovative unit processes based on partial nitrification for nitrogen recycle, autotrophic denitrification for biosulphur recovery and multienzyme-based bioreactors for CO2
- Apply technologies that are novel in this field such as moving bed bioreactors, membrane biofilm reactors and enzymatic reactors.
- Combine biological processes into innovative treatment trains for wastewater treatment and biogas upgrading.
The project is interdisciplinary and intersectoral. In fact, the research teams involved include environmental and chemical engineers, biologists and bioinformatics and mathematical modellers, while the companies are complementary being specialised in reactors design and construction and in bioprocess design and control. Finally, the involvement of the industry will allow to receive feedbacks on the solutions needed from pilot case studies using real effluents and to effectively translate novel scientific outcomes into suitable technologies.
The RECYCLES project consists in 7 different work packages (WP), 5 of them addressing technical topics for the development of innovative treatment trains for liquid and gaseous effluents treatment coupled with resource recovery.
Within WP1 - Development of innovative bioreactors, three different types of experimental bench-scale bioreactors have been stablished and operated in the long-term, targeting the treatment of sulphate and nitrate containing liquid effluents and biosulphur recovery by means of different microbial consortia, together with the study of different enzymatic catalysts for the conversion of CO2 to added-value products such as formic acid.
In WP2 - Application of monitoring and molecular biology tools, the study and characterization of different microorganisms' kinetics and their diversity in different biological processes is being done in order to understand who is doing what and when in those bioprocesses.
WP3 - Development of a Decision Support Tool (DST) based on multiple input data is targeting first the creation and harmonization of a multicriteria database on the characteristics of liquid and gaseous effluents, together with energy consumption and economic data of the processes to be studied, such as tannery wastewaters or biogas produced in landfills or anaerobic digestion processes to consequently merge it with specific mathematical models developed for bioprocesses targeted in WP1 in order to develop a DST that helps to select the best integration of bioprocesses for biogas upgrading and wastewater treatment to simultaneously remove carbon, nitrogen and reduced sulphur compounds considering resource recovery, based on a quantitative analysis and comparison.
In WP4 - Analysis of treatment trains, the main aim is to design novel treatment trains for waste treatment facilities for gas and wastewater treatment, including resource recovery and considering when possible the interaction of sulphur reduced compounds and nitrogen removal, in views of their potential application to practical problems found by companies in the market. For that, the developed DST will help into performing holistic analysis of proposed treatment trains, estimating effluents characteristics, carbon footprint and cost-benefit to rank different alternatives.
Finally, WP 5- RECYCLES demonstration will tackle the pilot-scale implementation of at least one of the proposed treatment train solutions in the previous WP for its study and application in a real facility targeting a real effluent.
Within WP1 - Development of innovative bioreactors, three different types of experimental bench-scale bioreactors have been stablished and operated in the long-term, targeting the treatment of sulphate and nitrate containing liquid effluents and biosulphur recovery by means of different microbial consortia, together with the study of different enzymatic catalysts for the conversion of CO2 to added-value products such as formic acid.
In WP2 - Application of monitoring and molecular biology tools, the study and characterization of different microorganisms' kinetics and their diversity in different biological processes is being done in order to understand who is doing what and when in those bioprocesses.
WP3 - Development of a Decision Support Tool (DST) based on multiple input data is targeting first the creation and harmonization of a multicriteria database on the characteristics of liquid and gaseous effluents, together with energy consumption and economic data of the processes to be studied, such as tannery wastewaters or biogas produced in landfills or anaerobic digestion processes to consequently merge it with specific mathematical models developed for bioprocesses targeted in WP1 in order to develop a DST that helps to select the best integration of bioprocesses for biogas upgrading and wastewater treatment to simultaneously remove carbon, nitrogen and reduced sulphur compounds considering resource recovery, based on a quantitative analysis and comparison.
In WP4 - Analysis of treatment trains, the main aim is to design novel treatment trains for waste treatment facilities for gas and wastewater treatment, including resource recovery and considering when possible the interaction of sulphur reduced compounds and nitrogen removal, in views of their potential application to practical problems found by companies in the market. For that, the developed DST will help into performing holistic analysis of proposed treatment trains, estimating effluents characteristics, carbon footprint and cost-benefit to rank different alternatives.
Finally, WP 5- RECYCLES demonstration will tackle the pilot-scale implementation of at least one of the proposed treatment train solutions in the previous WP for its study and application in a real facility targeting a real effluent.
- The development of innovative bioreactors for the combined removal of nitrogen and sulphur from both liquid and gaseous effluents.
- Technologies based on the application of immobilized enzymes for biogas upgrading and products recovery.
- Solutions for biofilm growth control in membrane biofilm reactors and biotrickling filters.
- The development of a Decision Support Tool for the suitable integration (technical, economic and environmental) of biological processes for biogas upgrading and wastewater treatment to simultaneously remove carbon, nitrogen and reduced sulphur compounds while considering resource recovery.
- Proof of the integration of the treatment of mainstream tannery wastewater, biogas desulfurization and formate recovery from adsorbed CO2 from biogas at pilot-scale.
- Creation of a mid-to-long term plan for the academic and non-academic exploitation of the RECYCLES outcomes.
- Increase the confidence on biological processes for wastewater and gas treatment from public audience by properly communicating the action, disseminating and transferring the knowledge acquired.
- Technologies based on the application of immobilized enzymes for biogas upgrading and products recovery.
- Solutions for biofilm growth control in membrane biofilm reactors and biotrickling filters.
- The development of a Decision Support Tool for the suitable integration (technical, economic and environmental) of biological processes for biogas upgrading and wastewater treatment to simultaneously remove carbon, nitrogen and reduced sulphur compounds while considering resource recovery.
- Proof of the integration of the treatment of mainstream tannery wastewater, biogas desulfurization and formate recovery from adsorbed CO2 from biogas at pilot-scale.
- Creation of a mid-to-long term plan for the academic and non-academic exploitation of the RECYCLES outcomes.
- Increase the confidence on biological processes for wastewater and gas treatment from public audience by properly communicating the action, disseminating and transferring the knowledge acquired.