A CIRCULAR ECONOMY APPROACH TO TURN WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITIES IN SLAUGHTERHOUSES INTO "BIO-REFINERIES"

COMMERCIAL OUTCOMES

Wastewater treatment

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Integrated system to treat wastewater while recovering nutrients consisting of a novel combination of technologies and processes in cascade maximising the extraction of valuable products. The system can be customised according to the needs of the end user.

Raw materials extracted from slaughterhouse

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3 different raw materials which will be the basis for further manufacturing the agronomic products. These raw materials, concretely nitrate and phosphate concentrate, hydrolysed sludge and algal biomass, will be obtained at different stages of the process.

Agronomic products

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3 agronomic products manufactured in production lines built up within the Water2REturn project, free of pathogens and pollutants and ready to be commercialised: 1 organic fertiliser and 2 biostimulants, that will enhance nutrition efficiency, abiotic stress tolerance and/or crop quality traits.

REcovery and REcycling of nutrients TURNing wasteWATER into added-value products for a circular economy in agriculture

Water2REturn flow

RESOURCE-ORIENTED SOLUTIONS FOR WASTEWATER TREATMENT

A REAL TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGH BASED ON THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY APPROACH

In a world in which resources are being used up, there is rising demand for alternative and sustainable solutions to cope with foreseen shortages. Focusing on two relevant economic sectors, slaughtering and the manufacture of agronomic products, both important for human nourishment, Water2REturn proposes to use a Circular Economy approach to turn wastewater treatment facilities in slaughterhouses into "bio-refineries".

Water2REturn is an Innovation Action co-funded by the European Commission under its Horizon 2020 (H2020) programme. It is coordinated by BIOAZUL company (Malaga, Spain) and is focused on the recovery and recycling of nutrients from slaughterhouse wastewater in the framework of a Circular Economy model. Nutrients recovered are turned into value added products for the agro-chemical industry and, consequently, for the agricultural sector.

Water2REturn target customers are:

slaughterhouses

Slaughterhouses industry → early adopters.

meat

Meat processing industry.

agronomic

Bio-agronomic products’ distributors.

agricultural

Agricultural sector → conventional and organic farmers.

Water2REturn OBJECTIVES

The consortium aims to:

90%

REDUCE wastewater discharge by 90%

40%

SAVE up to 40% of fresh water in the meat industry

95%

RECOVER up to 95% of the nutrients contained in the wastewater

4,2%

PRODUCE up to 4.19% of total chemical N-fertilisers consumed in EU

PROJECT CONSORTIUM

Who makes Water2REturn possible?

WATER2RETURN DEMONSTRATOR

water2return-favicon Demonstrator design and implementation – slaughterhouse wastewater treatment and reuse: BIOAZUL and CENTA.

water2return-favicon Demonstrator design and implementation – fermentation process: USE.

water2return-favicon Demonstrator design and implementation – anaerobic digestion and biogas valorisation process: UCA and ADVENTECH.

water2return-favicon Demonstrator design and implementation – algal treatment: UL and ALGEN.

water2return-favicon Demonstrator design and implementation – monitoring and control tool: ISITEC.

water2return-favicon Agronomic valorisation – agronomic products manufacturing: KIMITEC.

water2return-favicon Agronomic valorisation – agronomic products testing and use: SLOROM and ELO.

water2return-favicon Environmental, economic, social and risk assessment: 2B and EXERGY.

water2return-favicon Market update: ENCO.

water2return-favicon Capacity building and awareness raising: UECBV and ELO.

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