CARBALA

CARbon BALAncing for nutrient control in wastewater treatment

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The objective of this project is to enable transfer of knowledge in the field of wastewater treatment through an exchange programme among eight research groups; early and senior researchers will participate and work on newprocess configurations for wastewater treatment. Innovative unit processes will be studied at bench and pilot scale and combined into wastewater treatment systems optimized with respect to wastewater characteristics and environmental conditions.

The partners’ expertise is complementary with regards to: - the unit processes that will be included in the proposed configurations (anammox and denitrifying phosphorus accumulating bacteria, attached growth bio-systems, phosphorus recovery, anaerobic digestion and co-digestion, fermentation, sulphur cycle-related biotechnology); - the ability of representing the studied phenomena (activated sludge modelling, ecological and carbon footprint assessment); - the context of reference (environmental and economical situation; domestic or industrial wastewater); - facilities (analytical instruments, laboratories, pilot scale plants); - scientific and technical background (microbiology, chemistry and engineering).

The project will deal with the need, typical “state of the art” wastewater treatment for biodegradable carbon, both for heterotrophic denitrification and biological phosphorous removal, which is often not sufficiently present in the wastewater itself. External carbon sources are not only expensive but their application increases both the production of excess sludge and the energy and carbon footprint of the treatment, eventually reducing the potential production of biogas.

New process configurations will be based on the idea of balancing the use of organic compounds in order to maximize the role of anaerobic processes while, at the same time, operating biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal; this will facilitate the decrease of the carbon footprint, while maintaining the desirable effluent quality.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Scientists and engineers are working together as part of an EU-funded initiative to reduce the carbon footprint of wastewater treatment.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

The 'Carbon balancing for nutrient control in wastewater treatment' (CARBALA) project is investigating new approaches to the treatment of wastewater. The consortium comprises eight research teams made up of bioprocess engineers, modellers, biotechnologists, technology developers and microbiologists.

The initiative will facilitate the transfer of knowledge between research teams through an exchange programme. The programme will include both researchers at the beginning of their careers and experienced scientists.

To date, CARBALA has studied innovative processes at the bench and pilot scales. These are gradually being combined into treatment systems that are optimised to reflect the characteristics of the wastewater and the environmental conditions.

Project partners will also address the need for biodegradable carbon in wastewater treatment, which is often not sufficiently present in the wastewater itself. This is an important issue as external carbon sources are expensive, contribute to the production of excess sludge and may alternatively be used for bioenergy production. They also increase the energy and carbon footprint of the treatment.

The new process configurations investigated by CARBALA are based on the idea of balancing the use of organic compounds in order to maximise the role of anaerobic processes. At the same time, they remove through biological processes nitrogen and phosphorus, thereby reducing the carbon footprint while maintaining the desired level of effluent quality.

CARBALA will therefore benefit the water treatment sector by developing innovative solutions for dealing with wastewater, while reducing the amount of biodegradable carbon required. In addition, this valuable and innovative approach will help Europe to compete more effectively in the global water treatment technology market.