Participants
Functional Units “Water treatment” and “Environmental analysis”
Contacts
J.L. Casas López (jlcasas@ual.es)
Funds:
Ministry of Science and Innovation. Green transition and digital transition projects 2021.
Current Situation:
In progress
Summary
The starting hypothesis of the INTEGRASOL project is that it is possible to develop efficient and robust wastewater treatment processes based on solar technologies (microalgae and solar photo Fenton) to produce microalgae biomass and water ready to reuse, more sustainably and efficiently than using conventional technologies. Although both technologies have been widely studied in a separate way, its combination has not been assayed until now and some aspects regarding the operational conditions need to be studied focused on, in the case of wastewater treatment priority by (i) maximizing the wastewater treatment capacity, (ii) by minimizing the energy consumption and reagents consumption, (iii) by guaranteeing compliance with the strict discharge regulations (REGULATION (EU) 2020/741), as well as (iv) reliable operation in real conditions. In the case of microalgae biomass and reusable water priority by (i) optimizing the quality of produced biomass to produce biostimulants/biopesticides and (ii) by guaranteeing compliance with regulation for water reuse in agriculture.
The main objective of the INTEGRASOL project is the development of a combined WWT process based on microalgae secondary treatment and solar photo – Fenton process as tertiary treatment operated in continuous flow mode for UWW reclamation. To this end, the project will be focused on the adaptation of the secondary treatment conditions operation to obtain an effluent with the better characteristics possible to be treated by solar photo Fenton in a raceway pond reactor operating in continuous flow. In this sense, the operation conditions will be focused on the maximization of the water treatment capacity and the minimization of the ammonium, phosphates, and carbonates concentration in the secondary effluent. Raceway pond reactors will be used for both treatment step although in the case of secondary treatment with microalgae, membranes will be used to improve the treatment capacity and to reduce the ammonium, phosphates and carbonates concentration in the secondary effluent. The use of membranes will also allow to operate with independence at different values of hydraulic residence time and cellular residence time. The technical assessment will be based on the simultaneous analysis and monitoring of different water quality indicators, including: i) E. coli and total coliforms (commonly defined in UWW guidelines), ii) antibiotic resistant bacteria and iii) organic microcontaminants (OMCs), some of them already included in the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council on minimum requirements for UWW reuse.