RADIOFREPOLIS · An Innovative and Energy-Efficient Radio Frequency Pretreatment on Emerging Micropollutants and Transformation Products in Anaerobic Sludge Digestion for Waste Reuse
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2019-08-01 → 2023-12-31
- EU contribution
- €242,709
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
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Results in brief
An Innovative and Energy-Efficient Radio Frequency Pretreatment on Emerging Micropollutants and Transformation Products in Anaerobic Sludge Digestion for Waste Reuse
Many authorities continuously strive to reduce excess sludge production, and the operational costs of sludge treatment and disposal in wastewater treatment facilities by environmentally friendly approaches. As a part of resource recovery within the circular economy framework, the land application of stabilized wastewater sludge (as biosolids) is considered a sustainable and low-cost sludge disposal option. Prior to the beneficial reuse of biosolids, anaerobic digestion has been recognized as a well-known and preferred technology worldwide for sludge stabilization and renewable energy production. However, releasing emerging micropollutants into the environment via land application or disposal of biosolids creates potential ecological and human health risks. These contaminants may only be partially eliminated, and transformed into their transformation products (or metabolites) during wastewater and sludge treatment processes. For this reason, wastewater sludge is considered as an endpoint for many emerging micropollutants and their possible transformation products due to their limited biodegradability and physiochemical characteristics. Of a broad range of emerging micropollutants, pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) have been frequently detected in wastewater sludge at high levels due to their widespread usage in daily life and their refractory nature. Then, these PPCPs have been reported to accumulate in biosolids and biosolid-amended agricultural soils. There is limited knowledge on the occurrence and behavior of PPCPs, and their transformation products in solid matrices due to the highly complex nature of solid matrices and the difficulties encountered during their quantitative analysis. Therefore, the detection and reduction of these problematic chemicals in solid matrices have become a priority topic for many authorities. Developing energy-efficient biomass-based technologies can help to solve growing worldwide environmental concerns. As an emerging thermal pretreatment technology, a radio frequency heating operating at a frequency of 13.56 MHz is a novel and energy-efficient system for sludge disintegration and bioenergy recovery. The EU-funded RADIOFREPOLIS project investigated the removal and transformation of PPCPs from biosolids by applying this custom-designed/built radio frequency sludge pretreatment followed by anaerobic digestion to produce eco-friendly and high-quality organic residues for beneficial reuse of sludge. This project's action has allowed controlling the release of these emerging contaminants into the environment and increased bioenergy to move towards a better net energy balance of the overall process. RADIOFREPOLIS project successfully demonstrated that an innovative, sustainable, and energy-efficient technology, such as anaerobic sludge digestion combined with a custom-designed RF pretreatment, can be used to manage the wastewater treatment sludge contaminated with emerging micropollutants.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Sludge management in wastewater treatment plants is still one of the most pressing issues due to dramatic increases in sludge production, disposal costs and increasing stringent regulatory restraints. As the most sustainable and cheapest disposal option, agricultural use of biosolids is encouraged as a part of a resource recovery solution by turning waste into a key resource. Anaerobic digestion is a common practice for sludge stabilization as an energy-efficient process before the beneficial reuse of biosolids. However, presence of the emerging micropollutants such as pharmaceutical and personal care products is creating potential human and environmental health threats despite the technological advancements in anaerobic sludge digestion. Europe needs to take immediate action for solving this issue; to safeguard the Union's citizens from environment-related pressures and risks to health and wellbeing within objectives of the EU 7th Environment Action Programme. RADIOFREPOLIS intends to investigate the occurrence and transformation of target pharmaceutical and personal care products by applying an innovative and energy-efficient radio frequency sludge pretreatment followed by anaerobic digestion as the first time in the literature for moving towards non-toxic environment. Proposed solution will reduce the uncontrolled release of micropollutants into the environment via sludge as well as reducing the quantity of excess sludge, improving the quality of sludge and increasing renewable energy to obtain a positive energy balance of the overall process, which will contribute to competitiveness of Europe. RADIOFREPOLIS will transfer knowledge on this newly acquired custom-built radio frequency heating technology to Europe and develop a novel project with multidisciplinary collaboration. Furthermore, this fellowship will increase knowledge and experience of the highly qualified researcher in area of environmental biotechnology where Europe needs highly trained researchers.
Original text from CORDIS.
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Data: CORDIS, © European Union