With cellulose sievings, we can already make biochar, acetic acid and bio-oil. Now, we took a next step and activated the biochar into activated carbon for elimination of micropollutants at small and medium sewage treatment plants. This material then can be used in constructed wetlands as an additional step after the conventional treatment. This application opens possibilities for new markets. WOW! wrote a whitepaper about this subject. Read More
Did you ever think that a solution to our plastic problem could come from wastewater? That's exactly what's happening with the Interreg North-West Europe project WOW! In wastewater, there are often sugars, fatty acids, and starch that can be converted into PHA bioplastic by bacteria. WOW! has already demonstrated the possibility of producing PHA based on sewage. This time, the focus was on residual streams from food processing industries. Read More
On Friday September 8, 2023, the WOW! Closing Event Part 2 took place. The event, conducted both online and live at Trinity College Dublin, brought together experts, innovators, and enthusiasts to celebrate the results achieved in turning wastewater into valuable products. Read More
Yesterday the 6th of June the webinar about PHA took place. In the Interreg North-West Europe WOW! project we have shown that the recovery of carbon based elements from sewage results in valuable products like PHA bioplastic. What if we could also use industrial streams for producing PHA? Imagine how much conventional plastics we could replace with this. Sounds like good news! In part two of WOW! we have tested residual streams from different food processing industries on lab scale and pilot scale. After extraction, the PHA is ready for the 3D printing. The question still is if the material is suitable for printing? And something else, how circular is the PHA processing? During the EU Green Week 2023 we organised a webinar which was all about our results. Read More
The WoW! project has also shown that biochar from cellulose has a huge application potential at STPs. In the WOW! capitalisation initiative, biochar (produced from cellulose) will be activated into activated carbon for elimination of micropollutants at small and medium STP’s. The activated carbon will be used in constructed wetlands as an additional step after the conventional treatment. We give you an update about the latest developments. Read More
Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) are organic compounds that are produced during the anaerobic digestion of organic matter, such as waste and wastewater. These VFAs can be used as a substrate for the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), which are renewable and biodegradable polymers that play a key role in replacing conventional fossil-based plastics. Read More
Within the framework of WOW! Project, the market potential and technical feasibility for production of bioplastic (PHA) from sewage with primary sludge as feedstock has been proved. However, an estimate of economic viability has shown that this requires a waste water treatment plant (WWTP) capacity of approximately 2 million people equivalent (PE). Read More
The main focus of the pilot experiments is on the observation of how changing substrate compositions affect the overall process of PHA-production. The screening results showed promising results for PHA production using sewage from the brewery, which was used as the first substrate over a time period of 2 months, before a residual stream of a fruit juice factory was used for PHA production. Read More
Embracing the circular economy requires organisations to rethink how we value the finite resources available to society. Producing biobased products from wastewater may currently be a relatively new area of research, and finding ways to make them commercially competitive, is the current challenge being addressed as part of the WOW! Capitalisation project. Evaluating the circular value of PHA recovery from wastewater is an ongoing task, led by Trinity College Dublin, in collaboration with Avans University of Applies Sciences and Wupperverbandsgesellschaft für integrale Wasserwirtschaft mbH, with a regional focus as PHA production requires scale to quantify bioplastic’s circular credentials. Read More
On the 22nd of March, which was also world water day, the WOW! conference Making Impact with Wastewater took place. And yes, we made impact with wastewater! With +/- 50 participants in Tilburg, The Netherlands, and +/- 100 online we discussed the future of valuable materials from sewage. All of the project results were presented, the end products were showed at the market place and various statements were discussed during the panel discussions. We are very proud of the results reached in the WOW! project and we hope to have inspired you to continue further research on this topics. Read More
