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:
100 Untere Lichtenplatzer Str.
Wuppertal
42289
Germany
47 Gottlieb-Daimler-Straße
Kaiserslautern
67663
Germany
162 Avenue de la Faïencerie
Luxembourg
L-1511
Luxembourg
124 De Schom
Genk
3600
Belgium
11 rue François ARAGO
Ifs
F-14123
France
PO Box 90116
Breda
4800RA
Netherlands
138 Brunnenstraße
Lünen
44536
Germany
200 Boeretang
Mol
2400
Belgium
9 Karveelweg
Maastricht
6222NJ
Netherlands
2 St John’s St
Coventry
CV12LZ
United Kingdom
10 Nijverheidsweg
Purmerend
1442LD
Netherlands
10 Steenbokstraat
Apeldoorn
7324 AX
Netherlands
Lead partner
| Organisation | Address | Website | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regional Water Authority Vallei en Veluwe |
10 Steenbokstraat Apeldoorn 7324 AX Netherlands |
wow@vallei-veluwe.nl | www.vallei-veluwe.nl |
| Name | Contact Name | 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 |
Lipids in influent wastewater are usually defined as a problem, causing operational issues for Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) operator. The pilot plant in Audun-le-Tiche – operated within the WOW!-project by University of Luxembourg in cooperation with SIVOM de l`Alzette and REMONDIS Aqua - is focusing on the targeted recovery of lipids present in sewage water, which can be further refined to biodiesel.
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A pilot plant for Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) bioplastics production is operated at the STP Wuppertal-Buchenhofen. The organic carbon from primary sludge is converted within a two-step biological process to PHA which can be used for further bioplastics production.
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The Influent of an STP consist of more that 60% of toilet paper (cellulose). By drying, pelletizing and pyrolysis we convert this into valuable products: bio-oil, acids, syngas and biochar. The biochar can be turned into activated carbon which will be used in the STP to remove pharmaceuticals. During this webinar we tell you all about the process and results of our cellulose pilot in Ede (Netherlands). We also give you an online tour at the cellulose pilot.
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Sewage and other wastewater streams contain valuable substances that can be used as raw materials for bio-based products. However, in Europe this potential is hardly exploited yet, which results in loss of valuable materials. At the same time the re-use of sewage water could lead to reduction of CO2-emmissions and reduction of the use of fossil fuels.
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One of the main issues in the current situation is the multi interpretation of EU legislation which unfortunately results in different national end-of-waste regulations. To really accelerate a zero pollution Europe, policy harmonisation between European Member States is crucial.
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During the Aquarama Trade Fair on the 29th of October, WOW! is organizing a webinar. We will tell you all about the project updates and results so far. Be there!
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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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The partners within the WOW! team excecuted a market potential study. The objective is to identify viable value chains for 5 carbon based products (CBE) from sewage water: PHA-bioplastic, biodiesel, bio-oil, biochar, and acetic acid. In Figure 1-1 a simplified scheme of the recovery of the 5 CBEs is shown. The full report is finished and can be downloaded! Read More
Partners within the WOW! team wrote a report that describes critical success factors for the recovery of raw materials from sewage and bringing these resources to the market based on lessons learned in EU subsidy projects. Why have some recovery techniques been successfully implemented while others are still in the pilot phase or did not succeed? Information was gathered via literature, an online questionnaire and interviews. Read More
At the beginning of 2021, the first pyrolysis plant in the Netherlands will be opened in Ede, which orders usable raw materials from sewage water. Namely the cellulose pilot of the WOW! project. In the installation that Pulsed Heat has built together with Waterschap Vallei en Veluwe and Cirtec, the cellulose in sewage water is upgraded to oil, acid fraction, gas and coal. Pulsed Heat is responsible for upgrading the residual flows, they are happy to tell you more about their role in the WOW! project. Read More
The decision support tool (DST) developed as part of the Interreg WOW! project by Avans Hogeschool (NL) has been tested by Severn Trent Water (UK). This tool has been designed to provide water industry employees with an easy to use screening tool to assess the viability of carbon-based material recovery options (PHA, lipids and cellulose) at sewage treatment plants. The first testing period got us some nice results! Read More
On the 6th of November Coos Wessels from CirTec, partner in the WOW! project, presented the WOW! project to the North Sea Commission (NSC). The NSC is one of the six geographical commissions of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) and a cooperation platform for regions around the North Sea. Their mission is to strengthen partnerships between regional authorities which face the challenges and opportunities presented by the North Sea. In line with the NSC work on protection of the sea from marine litter and harmful substances, the Annual Business Meeting on 6 November 2020 adopted a resolution on circular economy and the reuse of resources from sewage. Read More
In the upcoming month, the lipid-team from the WOW! project will launch the pilot installation at the wastewater treatment plant in Audun-le-Tiche (France). Carefully determined key parameters in the lab-scale experiment will now be tested on site. Read More
Sewage contains about 25-30% of the particulate fraction in the form of cellulose fibers. The source of these fibers is mainly toilet paper due to its increased consumption. Utilizing these valuable materials could reduce the use of natural resources and subsequent carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and hence, realizing a circular economy. In the WOW project, a techno-economic assessment of the use of these cellulose fibers for bio-based products is performed at a pilot scale. Read More
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
Last week the WOW! webinar took place during the Aquarama Trade fair 2020. Three of the project partners from the WOW! project presented the results so far. Read More
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
