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Description
The worldwide population is facing limited available freshwater resources. Used water by humans, discharged as wastewater, must be treated to ensure its safe re-use. However, wastewater treatment plants are high-energy consumers, generate continuous waste with limited reuse, and surprisingly even significantly contribute to environmental pollution. The project comes to meet all these problems with a solution found in nature itself. By targeting priorities of the European Innovation Partnership on Water, the project uses one of the earliest life forms developed on earth: microalgae and their photosynthesis ability to clean wastewater with a significant decrease of the treatment expenditures, sanitation improvement, environment protection, and waste conversion to valuable resources which humans can take advantage for.
The project follows in-depth research on microalgae-based wastewater treatment for achieving even an increase in treatment performance. Microalgae cells are reached in nutrients and other useful compounds (oil, proteins) adding value to the resulted waste, the project activities aiming to enhance this value during the wastewater cleaning. Another followed key particularity is the technology preparation for operation in the real environmental conditions, following the impact study on the environment and research transfer to market.
By these goals, the project covers a wide audience, from operators of the small, individual, or large, central wastewater treatment systems, and water sector audience to the worldwide scientific community, and the general public alike. Besides bringing a successful solution for the human being, the project builds considerable experience, competencies, and the premises for a long-term cooperative partnership. The project represents a significant step forward in the addressed topic and on top of that, collaboration with Norwegian partners has a high influence on the enhancement of the Romanian research international visibility.
Summary of project results
The world''s population faces limited freshwater resources, which account for less than 3% of all water on Earth. Global warming makes these vital resources even harder to access. Against this backdrop, water used by society for various activities - from domestic to industrial - must be treated to ensure its continued availability and safe reuse. Treatment of sewage, also known as wastewater, is traditionally performed by wastewater treatment plants using a century-old technology based on bacteria. Despite its purpose, the wastewater treatment sector represents one of the most energy-intensive components of municipal infrastructure, continuously generating waste with limited recovery options and contributing to environmental pollution through greenhouse gas emissions. The project aimed to unite Romanian and Norwegian expertise in microalgae research to provide an alternative biotechnology to traditional wastewater treatment. By incorporating microalgae alongside traditional bacteria, the project sought to minimize wastewater treatment costs, environmental impact, and convert waste into resources able to be harnessing in economic sectors.
The project followed in-depth research on microalgae-based wastewater treatment processes. The first period of implementation was covered by long-term studies on the assessment of microalgae-bacteria behavior under different technical and operational conditions. These conditions were established for synthetic municipal wastewater treatment following technology optimization in relation to treatment capacity. Complementary to this, activities were conducted for converting the resulting waste during technology operation into resources by integrating high-value microalgae species into the process. Additionally, there was a continuous assessment of residual biomass quality in terms of pigments, carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids, and an investigation of potential applications in line with identified requirements from the private sector. Once the technical specifications of the technology were established, the project focused on scaling up towards the design and operation of a prototype. Over the course of a year, this prototype underwent technology validation under relevant environmental conditions, treating real urban wastewater sampled from the wastewater treatment plant of the Buftea municipality, Ilfov County, Romania, with a population of over 20,000 inhabitants.
The project established the technical and operational parameters of the microalgae-based technology, whose primary beneficiaries are water supply and wastewater service providers. The technology has been designed and validated for use under relevant environmental conditions for the treatment of wastewater discharged into sewer networks and wastewater treatment plants.
It eliminates the need for traditional air pumping, which is the most energy-intensive process in conventional wastewater treatment technology. It also enables quick, efficient, and easy microalgae recovery, lowering biomass harvesting costs. A joint intellectual property application has been filed with the European Patent Office for future commercialization. The technology was successfully implemented by the Romanian and Norwegian partners, extending its application to decentralized wastewater systems in collaboration with the Norwegian private partner. In Romania, the private sector benefited from a collaboration with an economic operator for the use of microalgae biomass to manufacture biodegradable rubber soles, where a long-term partnership was planned through a joint project proposal submitted for knowledge transfer.
Another partnership has been established with a company in the automotive industry. The aim was to produce low-cost materials using technology waste to remove metals from industrial wastewater.
Summary of bilateral results
The project made significant strides in developing the microalgae biotechnology sector. The activities established an alternative technology to address challenges in the wastewater treatment , extended its application beyond Romanian borders by validated it in Norway. TRL 5, requiring further steps for scaling up and commercialization. The partnership has succeeded in starting to engage the private sector through collaboration with secondary beneficiaries. Continuous collaboration between partners led to expanding the project’s focus from centralized to decentralized wastewater treatment, initiating research activities and cooperation plans with a Norwegian business partner. The project also highlighted the need to increase human resources by recruiting and training young researchers, thereby creating new job opportunities.Additionally, the project laid the foundation for a strategy to develop the microalgae sector in Romania, positioning it as one of the top five research and innovation priorities for the promoter over the next decade.The implementation of the technology in Norway not only validated the project approach but also strengthened the partnership, resulting in a joint intellectual property application and plans for technology deployment and further research. Mobility projects are also envisaged to strengthen expertise in this area further. The project facilitated significant knowledge and experience transfer to Romanian institutions, leading to the establishment of accurate analytical protocols.The groundwork laid by this project promises long-term benefits, opportunities, and continued collaboration in microalgae technology and sustainable solutions, with a concrete plan for continued progress beyond the project timeframe.