The management of urban organic waste currently presents environmental challenges to be addressed, such as minimizing landfill disposal or increasing recycling. ECOVAL proposes a new management approach based on the recovery of these wastes to obtain volatile fatty acids useful for the plastics, lubricants or agrochemical industries. ECOVAL will develop the complete value chain from the collection of the waste to the commercialization of the final product, through the development of innovative biotechnological processes. The project will offer a new model of environmental management to be applied in the cities of the Sudoe region, integrating multidisciplinary aspects such as legislative, economic, market, environmental or social perception. ECOVAL thus, contributes to the integration of the circular bioeconomy, promoting waste reduction and environmental protection, through the conversion of a waste into a resource.

Partners:

Cetaqua (Coordinator), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (Biogroup), Fundación Patrimonio Natural de Castilla y León, Fundación Empresa-Universidad Gallega (FEUGA), l'Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse (INSA), Nereus, Aguas do Tejo Atlantico and Empresa Municipal de Ambiente do Porto.

The challenge proposed by the HP-NANOBIO project is based on the development of a treatment system for antibiotics removal based on the use of nanoparticles and atomic clusters as high-performance photocatalysts combined with enzymes immobilized in nanoparticles to advance in the design of technologies that are environmentally friendly and economically sustainable. The cascade process combining photochemistry and biocatalysis with magnetically separable nanoparticles has not been addressed before.

Publications

• Benchmarking composting, anaerobic digestion and dark fermentation for apple vinasse management as a strategy for sustainable energy production
• Environmental perspective of an enzyme-based system for the removal of antibiotics present in wastewater
• Iron oxide-mediated photo-Fenton catalysis in the inactivation of enteric bacteria present in wastewater effluents at neutral pH 
• Reusable Fe3O4/SBA15 Nanocomposite as an Efficient Photo-Fenton Catalyst for the Removal of Sulfamethoxazole and Orange II
• Exploiting the Potential of Supported Magnetic Nanomaterials as Fenton-Like Catalysts for Environmental Applications
• Benchmarking tertiary water treatments for the removal of micropollutants and pathogens based on operational and sustainability criteria
• Improving the sustainability of heterogeneous Fenton-based methods for micropollutant abatement by electrochemical coupling
• Scale-up modelling and life cycle assessment of electrochemical oxidation in wastewater treatment - ScienceDirect
• LED-driven photo-Fenton process for micropollutant removal by nanostructured magnetite anchored in mesoporous silica 
• Towards oxidoreductase-based processes for the removal of antibiotics from wastewater | Reviews in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology

Unspecific peroxygenases (UPOs) from basidiomycete appear as highly promising biocatalysts for a variety of aromatic and aliphatic oxyfunctionalization reactions of industrial interest. These relatively novel heme proteins catalyze with advantages a variety of stereoselective and/or regioselective oxygen transfer reactions, previously assigned exclusively to P450s, bypassing the need of expensive cofactors and with higher stability.

In this project, the optimization of the production of UPO by the edible mushroom Agrocybe aegerita is proposed. For the first time, the production of the enzyme will be attempted under solid-state fermentations. Agro-industrial residues will be used as substrates to induce the production of the extracellular enzyme. The spent residue after the fermentation will be characterized to explore its potential application as fodder or plant fertilizer. Furthermore, the production under submerged conditions will be studied, using extracts from the agro-industrial wastes. Subsequently, the enzyme will be applied for the first time to produce hydroxylated oligoflavonoids. Flavonoids are widely distributed natural compounds with an important role in the prevention of various diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes or osteoporosis. The use and effectiveness of flavonoids, however, sometimes are hampered by their physicochemical properties such as limited solubility, low hydrophobicity and poor compatibility with biological membranes. It is expected that the enzymatic hydroxylation leads to new products with enhanced solubility, stability and biological activities. The environmental and economic analysis of the biotechnological processes will determine the feasibility of the integral technology.

The working plan of this proposal comprises the following phases: 1) Production of AaeUPO under solid-state and submerged fermentations; 2) Optimization of the enzymatic reaction for the hydroxylation and oligomerization of flavonoids; 3) Characterization of the products: chemical structure, antioxidant activity, solubility and biological activities; 4) Economic and environmental feasibility of the AaeUPO production and its application for the transformation of flavonoids.

The impacts of BioFlav-OH will result in: i) Improvement in resource efficiency and cost-efficiency over comparable current UPO production technologies; ii) New market opportunities for UPO, iii) Validation of new and feasible bio-chemical technologies using immobilized UPO; iv) New products with significantly higher value from selective oxyfunctionalizations reactions.

NEPTUNUS aims to pursue a new transnational clustering concept approach to review, examine and harness key eco-labelling and key enabling eco-innovations that add-value and cross-cut sea food-water-energy domains in order to address barriers and to strengthen these sectors regionally and across jurisdictions in the Atlantic region. A standardised clustering framework to define, evaluate and modify future strategies is necessary, in order to assess interacting governing forces and balance the nutritional, economic and energetic value of the seafood sector so as to shape and inform industry growth aligned and informed by consumer engagement.

This overall goal can be achieved by means of two specific objectives:

1) Introducing green economy strategies in the seafood sector to minimize environmental impacts, whereas incorporating competitive products into green markets promoting eco-labelling under a NEXUS approach.

2) Developing strategies and policies based on circular economy and cradle-to-cradle principles that deliver new products and working systems to the seafood sector.

 

USABLE Packaging will develop high performance plastic packaging through a sustainable and fully circular value chain, where the biomass raw material sourcing derives from food processing side streams, to obtain, via a low footprint biochemical processing, a portfolio of bio-based biodegradable building block materials enabling the realisation of complex packaging structures, including laminates and multilayer films, to match key functional requirements of commercial petrochemical plastics, such as gas/ liquid barrier properties, mechanical resistance, cold temperature resistance, hot tack, among others, while enabling the realisation of a full set of packaging items from rigid to semi rigid and flexible by tuning the functionalisation of base resins through bio-synthesis and the compound processing.

USABLE Packaging concept is designed to retrofit the existing state of the art packaging processing technology by controlling the chemical and physical properties of the base building blocks materials. With respect to petrochemical peers USABLE Packaging offers a sustainable end-of-life, since on one hand materials are biodegradable with no harm to the environment, on the other hand they have potential to deliver additional economic value through organic recycling for production of biogas, with the same consolidated disposal route as bio-waste, or through biotech recycling, to be used again as feedstock for the production of the same base resins for USABLE Packaging, basically closing again and again the same value chain to re-obtain virgin materials.

 

Partners 

Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (Coordinator), InnoExc GmbH, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, Fundacion Gaiker, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, Nuova Ompi srl, Innoven srl, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Bioinicia SL, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Barilla, Bio-based and Biodegradable Industries Association, Agricultural University of Athens, Sonae, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, SABIO srl, Universitè de Montpellier, Publi Embal, Associação para a Inovação e Desenvolvimento da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Matikem, Bio-Mi, Orogel, Caviro, PHR, Koruma

Further information

Website: www.usable-packaging.eu

Twitter: @Uspackproject

The objective of CONSERVAL is producing new sustainable management schemes based on the valorization of residual streams from fish canning industry to obtain higher value-added products, namely volatile fatty acids, oils and proteins. More specifically:

• Contributing to the circular economy framework whereby residues can be turned into resources, minimizing the environmental impact of production activities and the use of natural resources
• Developing new technological alternatives for residue valorization in the fish canning sector, such as acidogenic fermentation and enzymatic hydrolysis
• Contributing to an innovative technical model that integrates all the value chain stakeholders, assessing the social and economic impacts

Fulfilling these objectives will provide the following results for the sector and cross-border cooperation:

• A sustainable model of resource management in fish canning industries with drastic reduction of the environmental impact in continental waters
• A better utilization of sea natural resources by the use of innovative technologies to valorize the residual streams in fish canning and obtain higher value-added products
• Modernizing the fish canning sector in the medium/long term by the effective transfer of technologies and results, and by the integration of all the value-chain stakeholders.

 

Climate change and food safety have become interdependent worldwide research priorities. In order to meet the EU challenge of doubling food production by 2050 (to meet population demands) while dealing with the impact of climate change on food safety, investment in research to address this issue is required.

The overarching aim of this Innovative Training Network (ITN) is to provide high-level training in Predictive mOdelling Tools to evaluate the Effects of Climate change on food safeTy (PROTECT) to a new generation of high achieving early stage researchers. PROTECT will provide them with the transferable skills necessary for thriving careers in a burgeoning area that underpins innovative technological development across a range of diverse disciplines.

PROTECT brings together intersectoral and multidisciplinary expertise from 11 European Countries (7 third level educational institutions, 6 industry partners, 1 United Nations agency). The consortium will share technical and training expertise to recruit and train 8 highly skilled ESRs in advanced modelling tools to investigate the impact of climate change on food safety, considering food as unsafe if it is injurious to health (due to pathogenic bacteria or mycotoxins) or unfit for human consumption (due to spoilage bacteria). Moreover, PROTECT will use this new knowledge to create a science based decision support tool and develop policy guidance through a white paper. The consortium will support specialist job creation in an area central to human and environmental health while ensuring continued growth and public confidence in Europe’s agri-food sector.

Partners

- Beneficiaries: University College Dublin (Coordinator) (Prof. Enda Cummins), University of Malta (Prof. Vasilis Valdramidis) KU Leuven (Prof. Jan Van Impe) ONIRIS (Dr. Jeanne-Marie Membré) Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Prof. Kostas Koutsoumanis) University of Nottingham (Prof. Serafim Bakalis) Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (Prof. Almudena Hospido) CREME (Mr. Cronan McNamara)

- Organisations: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,  Danone, Feiraco, NIZO Food Research, Nestlé, ARLA Foods

Website and Social Media

Website: http://www.protect-itn.eu/

Twitter: @PROTECT-ITN 

Facebook: PROTECT-ITN-MARIE-CURIE 

"Joint PhD Laboratory for New Materials and Inventive Water Treatment Technologies. Harnessing resources effectively through innovation (NOWELTIES)" is a Marie Sklodowska Curie Action European Joint Doctorate (EJD) project (programme Innovative Training Networks ,ITN) funded by the European Commission (Horizon 2020).

Its primary objective is to organize a European Joint Doctorate platform that will provide cutting edge training opportunities for the education of tomorrow`s water treatment experts. NOWELTIES aims to train 14 Early Stage Researchers in state-of-the-art technologies for wastewater treatment. Some of its specific research objectives are: Understanding elimination of OMPs in WWTPs, Synthesis of novel nanomaterials and nanocomposites, Development of novel hybrid processes for WW (physico-chemical and biological), Optimisation of processes based on AOPs.

The Consortium of NOWELTIES gathers 9 project partners from Spain, Germany, Italy, Croatia and Serbia and 7 partner organizations.

ICRA (Girona, Spain): M. Petrovic, W. Gernjak, J. Radjenovic, G. Buttiglieri, M.J. Farre

USC (Santiago de Compostela, Spain): F. Omil, M.T. Moreira, S. Suárez, J.M. Lema, G. Feijoo

RWTH Aachen University (Germany): A. Schäffer, K. Smith

TUM (Munich, Germany): J.E. Drewes, U. Hübner

FKIT (F. Chem. Eng. Technol., U. Zagreb, Croatia): S. Babic, H. Kusic, D. Mutavdzic, A. Loncaric-Bozic, M. Cizmic FSB (F. Mechanical Eng & Naval Arquitecture, U. Zagreb, Croatia): L.Curkovic, D. Ljubas

TMF (F. Technology & Metalurgy, U. Belgrade, Serbia): N. Rajic, D. Povrenovic

IPB (Institute of Physics, U. Belgrade): N. Puac, N. Skoro, Z. Petrovic, G. Malovic

Partner organisations-Academic: IdG (U. Girona, Spain): A. Romani, FHNW (School Life Sci, Switzerland): P.F.X. Corvini, P. Shahgaldian, CETAQUA (Santiago, Spain): A. Sánchez

Partner organisations-Non academic FCC Aqualia (Madrid, Spain): F. Rogalla, HERA (Emilia-Romagna, Italy): E. Caporossi, Comprehensive Water Technology (CWT, Zagreb, Croatia): T. Bolanca

iFermenter project aims to recover high value compounds from sugar residuals, and to turn fermentation processes converting these residual to antimicrobials cost effective. The project has a potential to contribute to the global bio-based market by exploiting residual sugars (€0.5 / kg) to recover their high value compounds (€40-200 /kg) and, with the remaining sugars, produce several high value antimicrobials (€50- 150 /kg) by intelligent fermentation. These products have substantial economical and social impact. Our strains and technology will solve some of the major difficulties in up-scaling.

The WooBAdh project aims to study the feasibility of replacing formaldehyde in wood adhesives by natural components derived from wood or other vegetable matter. New bioadhesives, able to provide a holistic solution to the current emissions challenges facing the wood-based composites industry, will be developed by a consortium composed by research groups from France (University of Lorraine), Germany (Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg & Fraunhofer ICT), Slovenia (University of Ljubljana) and Spain (University of Santiago de Compostela, USC). The project is coordinated by the USC.

The proposed solution is focused on different modifications of polyphenols, namely lignin and tannins, for producing bioadhesives that do not contain formaldehyde in its formulation, eliminating in this way the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC). The substrates will be Kraft lignin, from the pulp and paper industry, hardwood organosolv lignin, as well as mimosa, quebracho and chesnut tannins. Depending on the nature of the raw material, some substrates may need to be modified at different levels for increasing their reactivity. Chemical and enzymatic approaches will be applied to modify the substrates. Then, on the modified and unmodified materials novel reactions to produce the bioadhesives will be evaluated. The key aspect to obtain suchbioadhesives is the system of hardening, without which any modification will be of no use.

Overview of the WooBAdh project proposal

News

Logo contest (16.09.2018) WooBAdh Workshop (17.07.2018) Kick-off meeting (16-17.07.2018)

Partners

The coordinated project TREASURE has as main objective the development and evaluation of a modular treatment train comprising two lines operated in parallel to valorise and treat the wastewater (WW) produced in the fish-canning industry.

Biogroup will be responsable of the Sub-Project 1 TECHNOSALT "Unravelling salt and temperature effects on the performance of an integral modular system for fish canning wastewater treatment and valorisation" Its objective is the development and evaluation of a modular treatment train comprising two lines which operate in parallel, to valorise and treat the fish-canning wastewater. TECHNOSALT will contribute to achieve this objective by means of the following particular objectives:

i) to evaluate the effect of salinity (5-35 g NaCl/L) and temperature (10-25 ºC) on the activity of different bacterial populations;

ii) to optimise the removal and valorisation (to obtain biopolymers) of the organic matter;

iii) to optimise the nitrogen removal (via nitrite);

iv) to optimise an integral modular treatment comprising two lines of valorisation, of the fats, oils and grease fraction (FOG), and treatment of the remaining fraction; and

v) to evaluate the treatment train by means of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

These particular objectives will provide information regarding the operation of the reaction systems that will be evaluated by the group of the Universidad de Granada (UGR) from the point of view of the microbial population dynamics in the subproject 2 MICROSALT.

Only combining the results of the reactors operation (TECHNOSALT) and the microbiological information (MICROSALT) the optimal operational conditions, to avoid destabilization issues and to promote optimal performance, will be defined; and as a consequence the environmental impact will be diminished.

BioSos (Sustainable Biorefineries) is a network of research groups working in different areas related to biomass biorefinery such as: fractionation processes, valorization of compounds, thermochemical biorefinery, catalyst design, simulation and optimization processes and life cycle assessment.

Partners:

1. Grupo de Procesos de Biorrefinería​ (BIORP) Universidad País Vasco- Coordinator
2. Grupo de Ingeniería Química y Ambiental (IQUIMA). Universidad de Jaen
3. Grupo de Desarrollo de procesos y productos de bajo impacto ambiental (DESPBIA) Universidad Complutense de Madrid
4. Grupo de Conversión y almacenamiento de energías renovables y fósiles. Instituto de Tecnología Química
5. Grupo de Ingeniería Química-EQ2. Universidad de Vigo
6. Grupo de Bioenergía (BEGUS) Universidad de Sevilla
7. Grupo de Biotecnología Ambiental (Biogroup). Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

BioSos website

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.

Partners

• FCC AQUALIA (Coordinator) - Spain
• DESAH BV - The Netherlands
• SVERIGES LANTBRUKSUNIVERSITET - Sweden
• LEAF BV - The Netherlands
• ACONDICIONAMIENTO TARRASENSE ASSOCIACION - Spain
• NORDVASTRA SKANES VATTEN OCH AVLOPP AB - Sweden
• UNIVERSIDADE DE SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA - Spain
• WATER, ENVIRONMENT AND BUSINESS FORDEVELOPMENT SL - Spain
• WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY - The Netherlands
• CONSORCIO DE LA ZONA FRANCA DE VIGO - Spain
• ECOMOTIVE AS - Norway
• ISLE UTILITIES LIMITED - United Kingdom
• CLEAN ENERGY INNOVATIVE PROJECTS - Belgium
• FORFARMERS CORPORATE SERVICES BV - The Netherlands
• ASB GRUNLAND HELMUT AURENZ GMBH - Germany

More info at website run4life-project

STAR-ProBio constitutes a multidisciplinary project that will: (i) Meet environmental, social and economic challenges, paving the way for a much-needed sustainability transition towards a bio-based economy; (ii) Promote a more efficient and harmonized policy regulation framework; (iii) Boost the market-pull of bio-based products within the context on a sustainable 21st Century.

The overall objective of the project is to promote a more efficient and harmonized policy regulation framework for the market-pull of bio-based products. This will be achieved by developing a fit-for-purpose sustainability scheme, including standards, labels and certifications. An integral part of STAR-ProBio is the adoption of life-cycle methodologies to measure Environmental, techno-economic and social impacts, and comprehensively assess the roll-out of bio-based products. The analysis of selected case studies on construction materials, bio-based polymers, and fine chemicals, will ensure that the approach is not too broad and theoretic, allowing the benchmarking against non-bio-based products.

More information at website: www.star-probio.eu

About the project

AquaVal is framed in the subtopic in Challenge I the "water reuse and water recycling technologies in the agriculture and freshwater aquaculture sectors", with clear relation to other challenges and subtopics and the European Strategy on Bioeconomy. AquaVal aims to the development of technological solutions for the treatment of water used in freshwater aquaculture facilities. The technological solutions will be combined to comprise a full treatment system, to remove pollutants and valorise effluents following the circular economy precepts. Treated water will be obtained with quality for recycling/reuse to the producing facility or discharge into natural water sources. This system will include the application of biological treatment technologies where biomass is grown in the form of granules and enriched in microbial populations able to remove nutrients and micropollutants. Application of new processes, which are less energy requiring, will be evaluated like: a) anammox, which takes place in nature in large extension, or b) microalgae in association to bacteria. In this way nitrogen will be removed from the water in systems different from biofilters used nowadays, with the advantage that carrier material is not required for biomass support, and that less energy is required. With the output water from the previous described technology, a bivalve filtration unit will be kept, in order to test bivalves growth capacity improving the efficiency of proposed system, thus taking advantage from their filtration ability. This water depuration step will be accomplished using adults bivalves from the wild but, eventually could also be used for rearing endangered species of freshwater mussels in Spain, promoting biodiversity protection and endangered species conservation. Validation of the pilot plant will be performed to evaluate the economic, environmental and production performance of the proposed system.
The expected general benefits for aquaculture systems coming from this proposal are:

1. Economic benefits derived from the decrease of water consumption when treated water is used for recycling and the use of systems that are less energy demanding;
2. Improvement of the social perception of aquaculture plants as they will profit from new technologies that will reduce their environmental impact;
3. Reduction of the environmental impact of discharging aquaculture effluents.

The proposal involves as beneficiary participants 3 universities (Universidade Católica Portuguesa-UCP, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela-USC, University of Torino-DVS) and 1 company (Grupo TresMares-GTM) which will cooperate closely with stakeholders to achieve the project main objective.

 

 

Revalorización de residuos agroindustriales para la obtención de compuestos de valor añadido

More info at website www.novedar.com

REGATA (Galician Network of Environmental Technologies) comprises 17 research groups from the three Galician Universities: Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña and Vigo. It was founded in 2014 as "Galician Network of Wastewater Treatment" with the main goal of enhancing collaboration between its partners. In 2016 the network was extended to environmental technologies, incorporating new research groups. Partners:

1. - Environmental Engineering and Bioprocesses (Biogroup) - University of Santiago de Compostela (Coordinator)
2. - Bioengineering & Sustainable Processes (BIOSUV) - University of Vigo
3. - Environmental Chemical Engineering (EnQA) - University of Coruña
4. - Water Engineering and Environment (GEAMA) - University of Coruña
5. - Environmental Engineering and Bioengineering (BIOENGIN) - University of Coruña
6. - Chromatography and Chemometrics (CromChem) - University of Santiago de Compostela
7. - Laboratory of Research and Development of Analytical Solutions (LIDSA) - University of Santiago de Compostela
8. - Applied Analytical Chemistry (QANAP) - University of Coruña
9. - Cartography of soils and landscape, phisical-chemistry, degradation and recovery of grounds and waters (AMBIOSOL)- University of Santiago de Compostela
10. - Social Behavior and Applied Psychometric (COSOYPA) - University of Santiago de Compostela
11. - Ecotoxicology and Plant Ecophysiology (ECOTOX) - University of Santiago de Compostela
12. - Environmental Modelling (MA) - University of Santiago de Compostela
13. - Environmental Chemical Physics (QFA) - University of Santiago de Compostela
14. - Aquaculture and Biotechnology (Acuabiotec) - University of Santiago de Compostela
15. - Environmental biology (BA2) - University of Vigo
16. - Group of Trace Elements, Spectroscopy and Speciation (GETEE) - University of Santiago de Compostela
17. - Group of Research on Pathology in Aquaculture (GIPA) - University of Santiago de Compostela

The new network mantains the same aims since its origin, facilitates the joint use of installations and resources and to provide complementary training to its members. The network is structured in nine sections in order to tackle the challenges in environmental technologies with a multidisciplinary coherent approach.

Desarrollo de un sistema de toma de decisiones para el metabolismo urbano sostenible en España combinando indicadores ambientales y socioeconómicos.

Urban systems such as cities can be considered like living organisms driven by material and energy flows (biophysical approach) used to maintain structures and functions, and the production of goods and services. These flows arise from urban socioeconomic activities, technical and socio-economic processes over a specific period of time, between nature and society. Urban metabolism is therefore a multi-disciplinary research domain based on providing important insights into the behavior of urban areas for the purpose of advancing effective proposals for a more ecologically responsible future.

This project aims analysing urban systems, that is Spanish cities, based on the urban metabolism approach considering not only material and energy flows (biophysical approach) but also social and economic parameters in order to determine the urban sustainability of the cities selected for assessment. Representative Spanish cities will be selected at the beginning of the project based on a specific and designed protocol. Thus, state-of-the art methodologies will be managed and combined in the project in order to develop and evaluate a Decision Support System (DSS) that systematically integrates urban metabolism components into impact assessment processes with the aim of accurately quantifying the potential effects of proposed planning interventions. The methodologies that will be managed in the project are two traditionally considered to assess environmental parameters (UMA - Urban Metabolism Analysis and LCA – Life Cycle Assessment) with DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis). Thus, a sustainability-oriented LCA+DEA+UMA method is presented in this project. Environmental indicators together with social and economic ones will be managed in order to manage a multi-criteria approach. Moreover, an eco-efficiency assessment will be performed for the cities based on the ISO 14045 standard, which will be proposed to support decision-making when dealing with urban systems management. This study could be considered innovative since eco-efficiency has not been determined in urban systems up to data considering the combination of the three pillars of sustainability.

Results from this project will allow end-users to evaluate several urban planning alternatives based on their initial identification of planning objectives. In this sense, sustainable planning strategies will be proposed based on quantitative assessments of energy, exergy, water, waste, nutrients and pollutants flows combined with socio-economic indicators

Biotransformaciones (Co)metabólicas de microcontaminantes orgánicos en reactores de baja huella ambiental para el tratamiento de aguas residuales (COMETT)

Some of important issues to be addressed in innovative wastewater treatment (WWT) are the removal of organic micropollutants (OMPs), excessive biomass production, high energy consumption, emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs), etc. In this sense, the applicant group has developed different innovative wastewater technologies such as the SIAM and SIAL concepts (project HOLSIA, CTM2013-46750-R), especially suitable for most of those objectives. Among other results, those projects showed that the removal of OMPs could be significantly enhanced with the combination of different redox environments and operational conditions. Although there are already some evidences about the possible enzymes responsible for biochemical reactions depending on the OMP chemical structure and the environmental conditions, it still remains to be determined the active (co)metabolic mechanisms.

The COMETT proposal aims at advancing at a scientific and a technological level, by combining excellence and knowledge transfer in a singular approach. First, the low environmental footprint SIAL technology will be optimized and validated for the treatment of real wastewater under different sulphur content scenarios. One of the most relevant issues of SIAL is the use of methane for denitrification, which comprises a very complex microbiology (aerobic methanotrophs, nitrite/nitrate dependant anaerobic methane oxidizing N-DAMO bacteria/archaea, etc.). From the set of unit processes behind this concept, the most innovative will be further studied in terms of kinetics and stoichiometry. This technology, which comprises the main different environments existing in WWT plants, provides results easily extrapolated to the design or upgrade of other innovative water technologies, making the impact of the results much broader.

The awareness about the emission of OMPs and GHGs has been publically recognized by regulators and society. Even though, the OMP removal efficiencies reported vary in a wide range (e.g. diclofenac) being some compounds very persistent (e.g. carbamazepine). This underlines that research on this topic advanced more in studying the fate and behaviour of OMPs during WWT than on understanding deeper the mechanisms that are behind the overall removal. Based on that, COMETT plans specific tasks devoted to understanding the metabolic and cometabolic processes responsible for OMPs biotransformations. For that purpose, a set of lab-scale reactors reproducing the main biological processes of SIAL will be operated to study the relationship between the metabolic primary processes and the OMPs biotransformation rates. COMETT goes even one step further by identifying the target enzymatic activities catalyzing OMPs biotranformations.

Related video

Micropollutants removal under heterotrophic conditions from BioGroup-USC on Vimeo.

Reactores de catálisis química y bioquímica basados en nanopartículas de óxidos metálicos, enzimas inmovilizadas y clusters atómicos para la eliminación de contaminantes (MODENA)

The MODENA project aims to develop and implement a feasible technology for the removal of emerging pollutants based in catalysts supported onto magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). A wide range of catalysts will be explored: the laccase enzyme, MNPs as heterogeneous Fenton catalysts, and magnetically separable nanostructured metal oxides decorated with atomic metal clusters as novel and highly efficient photocatalysts. On the basis of chemical and biochemical catalysis, this project will make significant advances in the design of different reactor configurations under a common perspective: the integration of a reaction system coupled with a magnetic separation unit to ensure the catalyst retention. Therefore, the application of these water treatment processes would have beneficial effects on the reduction of the environmental impact of effluents from industrial facilities, contributing to improve the integral and sustainable management of water resources. The results of the techno-economic and environmental assessment of the processes proposed in this project will be a relevant task to determine the further exploitation of the technology arising from this work.

To fulfill such ambitious approach, the complementary skills of two research groups from the University of Santiago de Compostela will be integrated. The Magnetism and Nanotechnology group (NanoMag), from the Department of Physical Chemistry and Department of Applied Physics, will be responsible of the production of nanosize metal oxides, nanoparticles and atomic clusters, as well as the development of the magnetic separation systems required in the different reactor configurations. On the other side, the biochemical tasks (enzyme immobilization and biocatalyst characterization) and application of the new reactor configurations based on magnetic nanosize metal oxides, enzyme nanoparticles and atomic clusters for the removal of recalcitrant pollutants will be carried out by the group of Environmental Biotechnology (Biogroup), from the Department of Chemical Engineering.

In this project it has been developed this magnetic sequential batch reactor operated with nanoparticles. 

 

The main objective of BIOCHEM is to provide an integral method for model-aided design of a novel bioprocess using mixed-culture fermentation. In particular, BIOCHEM focuses on two essential aspects when designing a novel bioprocess: to reach a high selectivity of the desired product(s) and to achieve high productivity so that the process is economically feasible. As a demonstration, in BIOCHEM project, a process for the viable production of volatile fatty acids (VFA), i.e. acetic, propionic, butyric and valeric acids from low grade biomass (food wastes) by anaerobic (co-)fermentation will be developed. The selected case study is especially interesting because acetic acid global demand is approximately 10.3 million tonnes with wide applications in paints, adhesives, protective coatings and polymers; and propionic, butyric and valeric acid are produced in smaller quantities but have a higher added value and are used in animal feed and food preservation.

The impact of BIOCHEM is two-fold: i) by producing a method for developing bioprocesses, it can foster the implementation of novel processes for converting waste into higher value added products; ii) by designing a process for production of VFA from waste, it can displace the use of fossil fuels while valorising a residue.

Symposium

Challenges of the biological conversion of residues into platform chemicals

CANCELLED

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Given the progression of the Covid-19 pandemic and after a careful deliberation of the different options by the Organizing and Scientific Committee, we have decided to cancel the Symposium. Our goal was to make an event with a reduced number of participants to facilitate the exchanges among the attendees and very high quality talks. Clearly, the current situation would not allow for such an event any time soon, hence our decision. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience.

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Converting residues and wastes into chemicals, such as volatile fatty acids, is hot topic of research which has not yet reached the maturity for becoming an economically viable valorisation technology. This symposium is meant to serve as a forum for experts to discuss the main current and future challenges.

It will be structured in four plenary sessions with keynote invited speakers, short presentations and time for debate. The maximum number of assistants will be limited to facilitate discussions during the sessions and breaks.

Important dates
Call for abstracts……………………………..10 February 2020
Deadline for abstract submission………..13 March 2020 --> Extended to 20 March 2020
Confirmation of acceptance:...............…….03 April 2020
Deadline for inscription:........................……..15 May 2020
Symposium:...……………………………………….. CANCELLED

Download here the Biochem Symposium Flyer and Abstract Template

News

4th meeting of BIOCHEM project in Madrid on March 28th 2019 2nd meeting of BIOCHEM project in Hamburg on October 5th 2017 BIOCHEM project presented at 10th World Congress of Chemical Engineering (WCCE 2017, 1st – 5th October 2017) Kick-off of BIOCHEM project in Santiago de Compostela on April 19th 2017

Partnership

BIOCHEM strategy

• Development of bioenergetics-based and kinetic models for prediction of mixed-culture population preferred metabolic routes

• Assisting the experiments by targeting the range of operating conditions with the use of bioenergetics-based models and process engineering tools

• Engineering the optimal microbial communities for desired product spectrum and product yield, by manipulation of the operating conditions

• Increasing the productivity and overcoming product inhibition by using in-situ product removal techniques

• Developing a virtual plant to optimise the design of the novel bioprocess and adjust it to the production of any of the possible products from a variety of substrates

BIOCHEM Team

The overall aim of the EnzOx2 project is to develop new bio-chemical technologies based on the use of oxidative enzymes, largely unexplored at the industrial level, to provide innovative solutions in the production of some added value compounds from biomass components to substitute others of petrochemical origin. The potential of oxidative enzymes in such biotransformations has been shown by some of the EnzOx2 partners in previous projects, including several oxidation and oxyfunctionalization reactions catalyzed by different types of fungal oxidoreductases (such as oxidases and peroxygenases).

In this context, EnzOx2 plans to develop a 100% enzymatic conversion of bio-based 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) into diformylfuran, a platform chemical, and 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), a plastic building-block to be used in substitution of pterphthalic acid. On the other hand, highly selective hydroxylation of plant lipids (such as fatty acids, terpenes and steroids) will be optimized for cost-effective production of flavour and fragrance (F&F) ingredients, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and others.

Pioneer_STP addresses the challenges related to wastewater treatment (WWT) from a holistic perspective. Concepts such as resource recovery, sludge management, energy balance optimization, new effluent quality requirements (Emerging Pollutants, EP) and emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) are compulsory to drive the European water sector to be more innovative, productive and competitive. The project aims at assessing the impact of the integration of (4) innovative Unit Technological Solutions (UTS) (comprising in total 9 technologies), nowadays developed at lab- or pilot-scale, targeted to energy recovery and nutrients removal/recovery, into a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). Each UTS will be characterised not only in terms of efficiency but also concerning their environmental (LCA, Risk), economic (LCC) and energetic impacts. Pioneer _STP considers the cross effects (positive and negative) between the different units, in a strategy that goes beyond a focus on a particular unit to a global focus (the entire STP). A number of different layouts including the innovative units will be assessed under a multi-criteria analysis by using a superstructure-based optimization framework. The optimal process design solutions (novel plant flow schemes) will be further optimized by using a dynamic plant wide modelling platform (PWM). The consortium includes 5 skilled teams from Denmark, Italy, Spain and Sweden, from Academy and Industry, providing a multi-disciplinary approach: Development and full Characterisation of each UTS for Wastewater (Aqualia, KTH, USC), Centrate (UNIVR, Aqualia) and Sludge treatment (USC), Life Cycle and Risk Assessment (USC), Life Cycle Costs Assessment (DTU, USC) and Superstructure-based optimization and Simulation of mass and energy fluxes in the water, sludge and gas streams by means of PWM (DTU). Cooperation is enhanced by a mobility plan focusing on complementary skills. Research results can be transferred in a relative short time period to full scale STPs, an important added value for the stakeholders that support this proposal, including Companies and Water Authorities.

Partnership

Principal investigator	Institution	Country
Juan M. Lema (Coordinator)	University of Santiago de Compostela	Spain
David Bolzonella	University of Verona	Italy
Gürkan Sin	Technical University of Denmark	Denmark
Elzbieta Plaza	Royal Institute of Technology	Sweden
Jose R. Vazquez-Padin	FCC Aqualia	Spain

 

Pioneer_STP strategy

• Development of innovative technologies for the treatment of wastewater, sludge and centrate

• Characterization under a multicriteria perspective (design and operation, effluent quality, emissions, removal efficiency, costs, energy, etc.)

• Evaluation of the impact of integrating these technologies within the global plant layout

• Optimization of the STP taking into account the strong interdependencies between the different streams

• Holistic assessment (environmental, economic, energetic, risk)

Pioneer_STP Team

 

    Proyecto financiado por las acciones de programación conjunta internacional de MINECO

About the project

This project aims at assessing the ecological footprint and eco-eficiency of targeted economic sectors incorporating and combining assessment tools such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), always from a Smart Concept Strategy. Waste management and its valorization into high-added value products, food and feed production together with renewable energy generation are examples of sectors that receive special attention.

Integration of Strategies of Circular Enconomy and Urban Metabolism in Spanish Cities

About the project

The valorisation of agri-food wastes into high added value products (such as HMF, succinic acid and prebiotics) with the corresponding demonstration of their environmental and social sustainability is one of the main driving forces of this project. Moreover, the environmental and nutritional sustainability of current consumption habits in Galicia (and Spain) will receive special consideration mostly due to the significance that food sector has on climate change. The analysis of representative diets such as Atlantic, Mediterranean, Spanish, vegan and vegetarian is also a main goal. The communication of this valuable environmental and nutritional information to consumers will be taken into account when considering strategic actions for the adoption of healthy and sustainable dietary patterns not only in Galicia but also in Spain.

 

Video

Website: waternanoenv.eu