WOW! - Wider business Opportunities for raw materials from Wastewater

Project Summary

Sewage contains valuable substances that can be used as raw materials for biobased products. However, in North West Europe this potential is hardly exploited yet. This results in loss of valuable materials, increased CO2-emmissions and less use of natural resources. The Interreg North-West Europe project WOW! - Wider business Opportunities for raw materials from Waste water (sewage) - aims to make the transition to a more circular approach by matching supply and demand of cellulose, lipids and PHA bioplastics from sewage. The international consortium consists of partners from the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Valuable materials from sewage

There are market opportunities for raw materials from sewage, but for this the sewage treatment plants and the industry need alignment. This calls for a transition: sewage treatment plants need to switch from treating sewage to producing valuable materials. On the other hand, market parties need to regard sewage as a valuable source instead of ‘dirty unsafe water’. Last but not least, the policies should better fit this new circular practice. To realize these opportunities the consortium aims to develop value chains for three different raw materials from sewage: cellulose, PHA bioplastics and lipids.

The following activities will be part of the project:

  • Identify high potential value chains for raw materials from sewage.
  • Develop a Decision Support Tool that guides sewage treatment plants in their transition towards a circular approach on sewage.
  • Build and run three WOW! pilots to optimize and implement innovative recovery and upcycling techniques.
  • Create bioproducts made out of sewage, such as bioplastics, biofuel and bio-char.
  • Create national policy action plans and an EU policy roadmap.

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Project Partners

Lead partner

Organisation Address Email Website
Regional Water Authority Vallei en Veluwe 10 Steenbokstraat
Apeldoorn
7324 AX
Netherlands 		wow@vallei-veluwe.nl www.vallei-veluwe.nl
Name Contact Name Email Country
Wupperverbandsgesellschaft für integrale Wasserwirtschaft mbH Gerd Kolisch kol@wupperverband.de Germany
University of Kaiserslautern Heidrun Steinmetz heidrun.steinmetz@bauing.uni-kl.de Germany
University of Luxembourg Joachim Hansen Joachim.hansen@uni.lu Luxembourg
VLARIO Wendy Francken wendy.francken@vlario.be Belgium
Natureplast Guillaume lebouteiller g.lebouteiller@natureplast.eu France
Avans University of Applies Sciences Jappe de Best Jh.debest@avans.nl Netherlands
REMONDIS Aqua Industry Patrick Herr patrick.herr@remondis.de Germany
Flemish Institute for Technological Research Ruben Guisson Ruben.guisson@vito.be Belgium
Pulsed Heat BV Rinus van Praag Rinus.vanpraag@pulsedheat.com Netherlands
Severn Trent Water Ltd. Paul Knuckle Paul.knuckle@severntrent.co.uk United Kingdom
CirTec B.V. Coos Wessels c.wessels@cirtec.nl Netherlands
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Events

Business opportunities for raw materials from sewage

, Leuven, Belgium

The Interreg WOW! project is one of the initiators of an EU wide transition in which raw materials from sewage are reused as valuable bio-based products. We will subtract PHA to make bioplastics, extract and multiply lipids to make biofuel and use cellulose to make biochar. Do you want to know more about the technologies? Or do you see possibilities to help us with the business uptake? Please feel welcome to join us this afternoon!
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News

New developments in the field of PHA

Posted on

Sewage water and sludge are raw materials for the production of PHA: biodegradable biopolymers made by bacteria. These polyhydroxyalkanoates can offer an interesting alternative to fossil plastics. The number of research projects in this field is therefore increasing. Reason for the Biobased Economy Lecturers Platform to organize the webinar "Recent results in PHA development" at the end of November. Read More

Turning sewage water into bioplastics

Posted on

Sewage and industrial wastewater often contain many valuable substances that can be used as raw materials for biobased products. However, this potential is currently not or hardly used, resulting in loss of valuable materials. The INTERREG NWE project WOW! looks into the possibilities to create sustainable value chains from sewage water using these valuable substances. One of the value chains under investigation is the production of PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates), a fully biodegradable bioplastic. Read More

Cooperation Wetsus and Avans

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Avans and Wetsus have signed an agreement to cooperate in their activities on production of bioplastic from wastewater. In the Wetsus bioplastics from water research theme, fundamental research is performed in collaboration with Delft University of Technology on the production of PHA bioplastic from waste water. This research serves as a basis for the intended further upscaling of this technology by five Dutch water authorities, STOWA, HVC and Paques. Avans also performs research on the production and extraction of PHA bioplastic in the framework of the Interreg North-West Europe project WOW! and their Centre of Expertise Biobased Economy (CoE BBE). The agreement now makes it possible to share information and resources and in this way expand the knowledge for this promising development. Read More

State of the Art report on legislation

Posted on

The WOW! team finished the State of Art report on legislation in Europe and the partner countries of the Interreg NW Europe project: Germany, UK, Luxembourg, Belgium, France and The Netherlands. The objective of this report was to describe the main juridical and policy context for bringing raw materials from wastewater to the market, including national differences. Read More

PHA article published!

Posted on

Researchers from Avans University of Applied Siences: Michiel Michels, Guilherme de Souza Reis, Gabriela Fajardo, Ischa Lamot and Jappe de Best recently worked on an article about PHA from sewage water. This within the framework of the Interreg Nort-West Europe project WOW !. The article "Optimization of green extraction and purification of PHA produced by mixed microbial cultures from sludge" has been published in the journal "Water" . Read More

Advisory board meeting

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On the 15th of November, the Advisory Board meeting for WP3 came together at Avans. The attendees were Coos Wessels (NL, Cirteq and project leader WP3), Katrien Bijl (NL, Water Authority Vallei & Veluwe), Mark Fletcher (UK, Arup), Marjolein Weemaes (BE, Aquafin) and Raymond Erpelding (LUX, Siach). Wendy Francken (BE, Vlario) and Francesco Fatone (IT, Università Politecnica delle Marche) were able to join in via Skype. Read More

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