H2020 RUN4LIFE Project: Nutrient Recovery and Utilization: 4 Low-Impact Fertilizers
- Type Project
- Status Filled
- Execution 2017 -2021
- Assigned Budget 6.239.340,65 €
- Scope Europeo
- Main source of financing H2020
- Project website RUN4LIFE
Current decentralized domestic wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) waste valuable nutrients. Essential elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, vital for agricultural and industrial applications, are simply discarded. With this in mind, the EU-funded Run4Life project will combine existing wastewater treatment technologies with ultra-low-flush vacuum toilets, hyperthermophilic anaerobic digestion, and bioelectrochemical systems.
Its goal is to achieve nutrient (NPK) recovery of up to 100%, exceeding current rates by between two and more than 15 times, while reusing more than 90% of the water. The project is assessing the safety, environmental, and economic impacts and ensuring social acceptance. Large-scale demonstrations in Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden, along with collaboration with fertilizer companies, will optimize the process.
The activities were divided into 8 interrelated work packages:
WP1 – Project Management
WP2 – Innovations for efficient nutrient recovery. Updating innovative technologies, seeking greater integration at demonstration sites:
- New model of ultra-low flush vacuum toilets to increase BW concentration.
- Hyperthermophilic anaerobic digester (HTAD) designed to recover, in a 1-step process, safe solid and liquid fertilizers (NPK) from concentrated BW.
- Innovative configuration of bioelectrochemical systems (BES).
- Development of a technological roadmap for the recovery of nutrients from different waste streams.
WP3 – Large-scale demo: Testing, optimization, and validation, applied on 4 large demo sites.
- Sneek (Netherlands): designed for 32 homes.
- Vigo (Spain): operates in an office building.
- Ghent (Belgium): operated in a first phase for 120 homes and several public buildings.
- Helsingborg (Sweden): houses an innovative waste and wastewater management system for around 320 apartments.
WP4 – End-user perspective: Quality and safety requirements. The quality and safety of fertilizers and reclaimed water from the four demonstration plants were assessed through pot and field trials to ensure their use as commercial resources in a circular economy, taking into account end-user acceptance.
WP5 – Risk and Life Cycle Analysis. A roadmap and sustainability management guide were developed, describing and defining different assessment criteria, environmental and socioeconomic indicators, and environmental and health risks, to ensure that the Run4Life concept, developed through four wastewater treatment configurations, and the resulting products are technically feasible, safe, environmentally friendly, and socially acceptable.
WP6 – Strategic, Organizational, and Social Innovation. A map of partners and stakeholders was developed at each demonstration site with the aim of developing the social, institutional, legal, and technological characteristics of Run4Life technologies, as well as achieving broad acceptance among consumers and end-users, public authorities, and political bodies. An engagement strategy was developed to analyze social acceptance profiles and the best communication strategies, which is being implemented at each demonstration site. A legal and governance analysis was conducted.
WP7: Market Exploitation and Adoption. Run4Life's Knowledge Management Strategy was updated annually. A Market Study and Competitive Analysis were conducted. An Exploitation and Business Plan was developed for all technologies, products, and demonstration sites.
WP8 – Communication and Dissemination for Social and Market Acceptance. Run4Life sought to influence the attitudes of stakeholders, including decision-makers, toward the implementation of resource-recovery sanitation solutions. Events were organized and participated in to communicate the project and disseminate its results, with the aim of increasing social acceptance and market penetration. Links and collaborations with other relevant projects and initiatives were maintained and expanded. The project was actively present on various channels, presenting its objectives, technical concept, characteristics of the demonstration site, and consortium partners.
The Key Exploitable Results (KER) were classified into two main groups according to their primary exploitation path: Commercial (3 innovative technologies and 12 resource-recovered products) and 7 Non-Commercial. Identifying the primary exploitation path contributed to the design of the exploitation and dissemination strategy.
As the world's population grows, the demand for food increases, leading to a significant increase in fertilizer demand and necessitating a shift from current fertilization practices to an efficient approach to nutrient recovery and recycling.
Wastewater (WW) is an important nutrient carrier and resource in itself; however, domestic WW is currently underutilized as a nutrient resource due to inefficient recovery of diluted wastewater.
Within a circular economy approach, Run4Life proposed a radically new technological concept for RW treatment and nutrient recovery: (i) decentralized recovery at source; (ii) the segregation of blackwater (RW), greywater (GW), and organic kitchen waste (OGW) enables optimal treatment for resource recovery and safe reuse; (iii) innovative nutrient recovery technologies, integrated with complementary fertilizer concepts, reduce environmental and health risks.
By demonstrating technical feasibility at four demonstration sites, Run4Life's main objectives were:
- Enhance innovative nutrient recovery technologies beyond TRL 5-7 to increase recovery rates and improve material quality, reducing environmental impact and health risks.
- Large-scale demonstration of value-added irrigation water and nutrient recycling.
- Implement a value chain for recovered nutrients and water, including new business models to drive Run4Life's market entry.
- Promote the full acceptance of recycled products through engagement with stakeholders at all levels and review of the legal framework.
- Use Life Cycle Assessment, Environmental Technical Verification, risk assessment, and Cost-Benefit Analysis to evaluate Run4Life's impact on the environment, society, and the economy, while ensuring the safety and sustainability of proposed solutions and products.
Domestic wastewater (WW) is a major carrier of nutrients that are typically wasted by current decentralized WWT treatments. Run4Life proposes an alternative strategy to improve nutrient recovery rates and material qualities, based on a decentralized treatment of segregated blackwater (BW), kitchen waste, and greywater, combining existing WWT with innovative ultra-low water flush vacuum toilets to concentrate BW, hyperthermophilic anaerobic digestion as a one-step process for fertilizer production, and bioelectrochemical systems for nitrogen recovery.
A recovery of up to 100% of nutrients (NPK) (2 and >15 times the current recovery rates of P and N) and >90% water reuse are expected. The obtained products will be reused >90% thanks to the potential end-users of the consortium and a new business model based on a cooperative financial scheme. The impacts of Run4Life will be evaluated from a safety perspective (Risk Assessment), from an environmental perspective (Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Technical Verification), from an economic perspective (Cost-Benefit Analysis), and considering the Social Risk Perception.
Active measures will be developed with the support of a Stakeholder and Operations Panel to achieve institutional, legal, and social acceptance. Different aspects of Run4Life will be demonstrated on a large scale at four demonstration sites in Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden, adapting the concept to different scenarios (market, society, legislation). Performance tests with the obtained products (compared to commercial fertilizers) will be conducted in close collaboration with fertilizer companies. The process will be optimized through online monitoring of key performance indicators (nutrient concentrations, pathogens, micropollutants).
The information obtained from the four demonstration sites will be used for process simulation to develop a unified Run4Life model for implementation at a fifth demonstration site in the Czech Republic, enabling new business opportunities and providing input for critical raw material policies.
Run4Life advanced the concept of the Circular Economy by potentially recycling up to 100% of the nutrients present in domestic wastewater and organic waste (N, P, K, and micronutrients), also recovering more than 90% of the GW as reclaimed water. This avoids the inefficient conventional nutrient and water removal and disposal associated with linear systems, as current end-of-pipe approaches can only achieve very partial recovery (<5% and <50% for N and P, respectively).
Although the first separate collection systems for urban household waste and wastewater have been implemented, these products are currently not reused, mainly because the hygienic and environmental safety of these products is not yet guaranteed, and a clear market structure does not exist, prohibiting their reuse under current legislation and leading to low social acceptance. However, new EU policies on the Circular Economy, Water Reuse, and Nutrient Recovery are forcing a shift aimed at increasing efficiency and minimizing waste and environmental impact.
Run4Life responded to the following requirements: (i) integrating nutrient recovery into the water sector; (ii) producing hygienically safe products (fertilizers and reclaimed water) for reuse in agriculture, industry, and sanitation; (iii) online monitoring and process simulation; and (iv) making the strategy cost-competitive and market-friendly by incorporating LCA, a new business model, and the involvement of potential end-users, among others. This allows nutrient recovery processes to be tailored to specific local priorities and modified slightly to adapt Run4Life to local conditions and requirements.
- FCC AQUALIA SA (AQUALIA)
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