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RECOVERY AND UTILIZATION OF NUTRIENTS 4 LOW IMPACT FERTILIZER

Project description

Innovative wastewater solutions to preserve essential elements

Current decentralised domestic wastewater treatments (WWT) waste valuable nutrients. Essential elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium – vital for agricultural and industrial applications – are simply discarded. With this in mind, the EU-funded Run4Life project will combine existing wastewater treatment technologies with ultra-low water flushing vacuum toilets, hyper-thermophilic anaerobic digestion, and bio-electrochemical systems. It aims to achieve up to 100 % nutrient (NPK) recovery, surpassing current rates by 2 to more than 15 times, while reusing over 90 % of the water. The project evaluates impacts on safety, security, environment, and economy, and ensures social acceptance. Large-scale demonstrations in Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden, along with collaboration with fertilizer companies, will optimise the process.

Objective

Domestic wastewater (WW) is an important carrier of nutrients usually wasted away by current decentralised WW treatments (WWT). Run4Life proposes an alternative strategy for improving nutrient recovery rates and material qualities, based on a decentralised treatment of segregated black water (BW), kitchen waste and grey water combining existing WWT with innovative ultra-low water flushing vacuum toilets for concentrating BW, hyper-thermophilic anaerobic digestion as one-step process for fertilisers production and bio-electrochemical systems for nitrogen recovery. It is foreseen up to 100% nutrient (NPK) recovery (2 and >15 times current P and N recovery rates) and >90% water reuse.
Obtained products will be >90% reused thanks to prospective end-users in the consortium and a new Business model based on a cooperative financial scheme. Run4Life impacts will be evaluated on safety and security (Risk Assessment), from an environmental point of view (Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Technical Verification), on the economy (Benefit Cost Analysis) and considering Social Risk Perception. Active measures will be developed with the support of a Stakeholders and Exploitation Panel for achieving institutional, legal and social acceptance. Different parts of Run4Life will be large scale demonstrated at 4 demo-sites in Belgium, Spain, Netherlands and Sweden, adapting the concept to different scenarios (market, society, legislation). Performance tests will be carried out with obtained products (compared to commercial fertilisers) with close collaboration with fertiliser companies. Process will be optimised by on-line monitoring key performance indicators (nutrient concentration, pathogens, micropollutants). The information obtained in the 4 demo-sites will be used for process simulation to conceive a unified Run4Life model which will be applied in a fifth demo-site in Czech Republic, allowing new business opportunities and providing data for critical raw material policies.

Call for proposal

H2020-IND-CE-2016-17

See other projects for this call

Sub call

H2020-CIRC-2016TwoStage

Coordinator

FCC AQUALIA SA
Net EU contribution
€ 784 336,88
Address
CALLE FEDERICO SALMON 13
28016 Madrid
Spain

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Region
Comunidad de Madrid Comunidad de Madrid Madrid
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost
€ 1 219 827,19

Participants (19)