Name:
Brine and metal wastes valorisation to produce coagulants for wastewater treatment.

Developed by:
AIDIMME(Instituto Tecnológico Metalmecánico,mueble,madera,embalaje y afines), Spain
JOVIAR(CREACIONES JOVIAR S.L.), Spain

Countrie(s) involved:
Spain

Funding sources:
EU other – LIFE, COST, DG, EMFAF…

Specific organism(s) focused:
The LIFE Waste2Coag project aims to demonstrate a viable and cost-effective solution for brine and metal waste valorisation to produce a sustainable coagulant as an alternative to the commercial ones. The product will be used in water facilities, ensuring the use of resource efficient processes for the provision of water services. The electrolytic technology to be applied is operated with renewable energy, turning the process into a completely sustainable process based on the use of wastes as raw materials and renewable energy.

The specific objectives are to:

Design and construct an electrolytic pilot system (ELS) to produce coagulants by recovery of brines and metal scraps instead of using virgin raw materials;
Develop operational and maintenance protocols, and to optimise the operational parameters of the ELS considering the characteristics of both the brines and metal wastes, and the final use of the coagulant (chemical nature and concentration);
Produce formulations of iron (Fe) and aluminium (Al)-based coagulants with neutral pH and demonstrate their effectiveness in the removal of pollutants from wastewater;
Quantify the economic and environmental feasibility of the ELS by conducting Life Cycle Costing, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and social LCA (S-LCA);
Obtain economic savings linked to in-house production and usage of coagulants, reducing operational costs in the exploitation of WWTPs;
Determine the economic potential of the project process and products in view of future commercialisation, through a business plan;
Develop a communication, dissemination and transfer of project;
Promote ELS as a sustainable, autonomous and decentralised technology, proposing the inclusion of this technology as a Best Available Technology (BAT) in EU policies.
The project contributes to the implementation of the Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe (COM(2011) 571); European Green Deal; EU Circular Economy Action Plan (COM/2020/98); Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC); Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC); Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC); Marine Strategy Framework Directive (Directive 2008/56/EC); and Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources.

Specific organism(s) focused:
No

Serctor(s) involved:
Yes

Serctor(s) involved:
Bioremediation, ecosystem restoration, climate change mitigation and other environmental biotechnology

TRL:
TRL 4-6; TRL 7-9

Helix sector/involvement:
Research performing organizations and academia; Large industryYes

Link to the good practice:
https://lifewaste2coag.com/about/expected-results/
The project is still ongoing, until 2025.

Comments:
The project plans to transfer the technology in urban and indrustrial WWTP.
https://lifewaste2coag.com/about/actions/
Also, the exploitation and business strategy plan (EBSP) of the project results is a crucial tool for helping the project to reach its exploitation and business goals, define strategies and actions that will be required to achieve them and be competitive within the market. The ESBP will maximise market reach and impact of the LIFE Waste2Coag solution, protect the innovations generated and develop activities to promote replicability and transferability of results. As part of the EBSP, a business model based on the industrial symbiosis concept will be created. A replicability and transferability strategy will be developed in this action to boost replication by encouraging the adoption, implementation and further replication of the project results, proposing them as best available technology for EU Best Available Techniques reference document (BREF). A Best Practices & Replicability and Transferability guideline document will be produced. This guide will be a tool that will be used for future replicability and transferability of the Waste2Coag solution.