SMART-Plant – Scale-up of low-carbon footprint material recovery techniques in existing wastewater treatment plants (H2020)  

General concept

SMART-Plant aimed to scale-up in real environment eco-innovative and energy-efficient solutions to renovate existing WWTPs and close the circular value chain by applying low-carbon techniques to recover materials that are otherwise lost. 7+2 pilot systems were optimized for > 2 years in real environment in 5 municipal water treatment plants, including also 2 post-processing facilities. The systems were automatized with the aim of optimizing wastewater treatment, resource recovery, energy-efficiency and reduction of greenhouse emissions. A comprehensive SMART portfolio comprising biopolymers, cellulose, fertilizers and intermediates were recovered and processed up to the final commercializable end-products. The integration of resource recovery assets to system-wide asset management programs were evaluated in each site following the resource recovery paradigm for the wastewater treatment plant of the future, enabled through SMART-Plant solutions. The project proved the feasibility of circular management of urban wastewater and environmental sustainability of the systems and demonstrated through Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing approaches to prove the global benefit of the scaled-up water solutions. Dynamic modelling and superstructure framework for decision support were developed and validated to identify the optimum SMART-Plant system integration options for recovered resources and technologies. Global market deployment was achieved as right fit solution for water utilities and relevant industrial stakeholders, considering the strategic implications of the resource recovery paradigm in case of both public and private water management. New public-private partnership models were explored connecting the water sector to the chemical industry and its downstream segments such as the construction and agricultural sector, thus generated new opportunities for funding.  

The role of UNIVPM in SMART-Plant

UNIVPM has been the SMART-Plant Coordinator, responsible for the scientific, financial and administrative coordination of the project and in charge of the interaction with the EC and the large project Consortium. UNIVPM has been in charge of the engineering senior supervision in the design, construction, validation and optimization of the 2 SMARTechs (4a and 5) installed in a WWTP near Treviso (Italy).  The data obtained from the long-term operation of the SMARTechs were used for the assessment, data-processing, modeling and decision support system.  UNIVPM was the promoter and main organizer of several stakeholders workshops and events, including the organization of the 3rd IWA Resource Recovery Conference (www.iwarr2019.org ,Venice, 2019) as final project event.  UNIVPM provided support to local, national and EU policy makers, having an active role in the main EU stakeholders platforms and as a member of technical boards and committees. UNIVPM is responsible for the Italian Local Hub for the exploitation of the SMART-Plant solutions.  

Impacts and results

SMART-Plant validated n.9 SMARTechs able to considerably reduce the operational costs of WWTPs (energy savings up to 68%, GHG emission reduction up to 70%, sludge reduction up to 30%) while at the same time resulting in energy, nutrients and other materials recovery (n.3 SMARTechs were certified through Evironmental Technology Verification).  The materials recovered by the SMARTechs were used to develop new valuable SMART–Products (such as biocomposites, fertilizers, additives) that were tested to comply with law and market requirements. Results in terms of chemical safety, concentration of pesticides and heavy metals, agronomic value, quality and performances were encouraging, so the portfolio of SMART-Products was presented to the attention of the water, chemical, agricultural and construction sector to start creating new-value chains. The project developed n.2 digital support tools/systems for real-time monitoring of energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions and support decision on the optimal configuration of a WWTP.  

SMART-Plant results have been published in high-impact scientific ISI journals, achieving a total Impact Factor 89.