Related EU Projects

Wastewater reuse is currently considered globally as the most critical element of sustainable water management. Water scarcity, foreseen to aggravate, pushes for maximum utilization of non-conventional water. Although reuse is accompanied by a number of benefits, several potential drawbacks still puzzle scientists. The applied treatments fail to completely remove microcontaminants, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and/or their genes (ARB&Gs). Knowledge on the actual effects of reuse with regard to these aspects is currently not consolidated. This Action will answer critical questions through a European multidisciplinary network, structured in interactive Working Groups (WGs), to achieve: a) identification of the microbiome and mobile antibiotic resistome in treated wastewater, b) assessment of the potential for uptake/transmission of microcontaminants and ARB&Gs in crops, c) determination of effect-based bioassays required for wastewater reuse, d) identification of efficient/economically viable technologies able to meet the current challenges and, e) development of a relevant risk assessment and policy framework. The Action will establish criteria on technologies/assessment methods for wastewater treatment and suggest new effluent quality criteria to overcome current barriers and safeguard the reuse practice. The Action will have a major impact on the enhancement of sustainable wastewater reuse in light of current challenges at technological, economical and societal level.

Sewage contains the excreted biomarkers of endogenous human metabolism that directly reflects the exposure and stressors placed upon an entire contributing community. The quantitative measurement of these specific biomarkers in sewage from communities allows the averaged patterns of factors related to lifestyle, disease and environment to be used for the assessment of community health. The Action will develop and expand an existing pan-European inter-disciplinary network, bringing together experts from relevant disciplines interested in the application and development of using the quantitative measurement of human biomarkers in sewage to evaluate lifestyle, health and exposure at the community level. In order to achieve its objectives the Action will manage a common Europe-wide testing platform that will develop best practice, provide a significant increase in the comparable spatio-temporal resolution of available data, coordinate the development of new biomarkers in sewage with focus on new psychoactive substances and new biomarkers for the community assessment of factors such as environment, health, lifestyle and diet, and integrate sewage-based approaches with other available metrics. The Action will have a major impact on the development of this emerging field and ensure that the technology is used in a responsible and effective manner and its potentially fully exploited in collaboration with end-users.

Objectives:

Coordination Action INNOVA-MED aims to coordinate the research activities of ongoing EU and national projects dealing with development of innovative technologies for wastewater treatment and treatment and disposal of sludges and with application of innovative practices for re-use of reclaimed water and to facilitate the transfer and use of knowledge and technology in the MPC.

The main objective is to explore the synergies of the research carried out within different programmes and countries (eg. EU, WBC, DEV, NIS, MCP) and to facilitate the communication with researchers and national and regional institutions from the MPC and allow a broad dissemination and transfer of the knowledge/technology/practice to the Mediterranean area.

The specific objectives of INNOVA-MED are:

- to exploit complementarities in research objectives, methodologies and data analysis of ongoing as well recently completed EU and national projects on wastewater treatment and re-use in the EU and MPC in line with the Integrated Water Resources and Allocation Management (IWRAM) priorities indicated in the recommendations of the recent Critical Review of EU-INCO water research projects from FP4 to FP6 (Brussels, EUR 22017, Brussels, 2006)

- to facilitate efficient dissemination/exploitation of information and to improve the effectiveness in the transfer and sharing of an integrated and comprehensive knowledge on wastewater treatment and re-use technologies between EU and MPC

- to allow access to easy to use information on wastewater treatment and re-use in the Mediterranean region based on effectively share and transfer of the rational extraction of knowledge built and organized during the project

- to counteract fragmentation of the research and to improve dissemination of the RTD results, as well as public awareness on the sustainability of water by connecting research with local knowledge, policy institutions and implementing bodies in the Mediterranean region

http://www.idaea.csic.es/innova-med/reports.htm

New ED aims at closing industrial water cycles and reducing the amount of waste water streams with highly concentrated salt loads stemming from a broad range of industrial production processes by exploiting the waste components (salts) and transforming them to valuable products. This will be achieved by developing new nanoporous bipolar membranes for electrodialysis using bipolar membranes (EDBM), a new membrane module concept and by integrating this new technology into relevant production processes.

The bipolar membrane process produces acids and bases from their corresponding salts by dissociating water at the interface within the bipolar membranes. However, EDBM so far has been applied only in niche markets due to limitations of the current state of membrane and process development. Major drawbacks of the classic EDBM process are low product purity, limited current density and formation of metal hydroxides at or in the bipolar membrane. The objective of this project is to overcome these limitations by developing a new bipolar membrane and membrane module with a new water transport concept into the inner layer of the bipolar membranes.

Several promising membrane configurations will be developed and tested. New module concepts will be investigated to exploit the full potential of the new bipolar membrane technique. Integration of the developed membranes and modules into relevant production processes is an essential part of the project.

The strategic aim of New ED is inline with the vision document and strategic research agenda put forward in 2006 by WSSTP (Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform) on a European level that specifically asks for recovery of materials from brines, treatment of brines from specific processes and development of technologies for treatment of concentrated salt streams.

A "Critical review and assessment on the preparation of experimental as well as commercially available bipolar membranes" has been prepared and will be made available through scientific publications. The executive summary summarizes the extent of the review. http://www.new-ed.eu/uploads/media/NEW_ED_Deliverable_D.1.1_executive_summary.pdf

A "Market study of potential applications for the developed technologies and products" has been prepared and will be made available through scientific publications. The executive summary summarizes the extent of the review. http://www.new-ed.eu/uploads/media/NEW_ED_Deliverable_D.4.1_executive_summary.pdf

This deliverable is a final report of preparation and characterization of structured interfaces in bipolar electrodialysis membranes for enhanced water-splitting productivity. Here the four manufacturing approaches followed within the project were compared and contrasted.

This deliverable is part of WP2 of the project, which dealt with module design and module construction. Here reduction of parasitic current along with design and manufacturing of resistant spacers is reported. CFD computations as well as electrical circuit simulations were performed to help decide upon the most appropriate spacer design. In addition, limiting current density experiments were carried out to evaluate the manufactured spacers.

The report deals with the possibilities of the treatment of large ecologically relevant process and wastewater streams by bipolar electrodialysis systems developed within the New ED project. Here results from a lab-scale study applying the new bipolar membrane concept are presented. The case-study was conducted on the process water of the project partner Bayer Material Science. Bayer process water contains significant amount of sodium chloride which is emitted at the end of the polycarbonate production line.

In the final project report, the executive summary summarizes the extent of the report. http://www.new-ed.eu/uploads/media/New-ED_final-project-report_executive_summary.pdf

The main aim of the project is to promote the use and encourage the use and the market penetration of aquaTest-MO product, a new water quality monitoring and control product for WWTPs based on an eco-innovative on-line monitoring of the effluent, resulting from a research project. The aquaTest-MO product allows WWTPs to run affordable on-line monitoring scheme of the process, deriving in higher quality of treated water (less time to detect problems, less time for solving problems), meaning an increased productivity of the whole system and a faster water quality control loop.