Saltgae Project 1st Stakeholder Meeting 2nd October 2018 Imperia & Camporosso (Italy) Robert Reinhardt, robert@algen.eu

Project overview Summary Project summary: objectives, description, consortium Project concepts & scientific objectives General objectives Project structure Scientific/Technological approach and challenges Consortium & roles Demo site in Ljubljana Demo site in Israel

Project motivation For any industry generating vast amounts of wastewater, management of their residues to comply with the EU directives involves costs, which can be very high. This issue is specially critical for many industrial sectors, such as food processing, leather industries, land-based aquaculture, that generate saline wastewater. This kind of waste, with high concentrations of biodegradable organic matter, suspended solids, nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and salt (concentrations up to 15%) is extremely difficult and expensive to treat by conventional means (e.g. anaerobic digestion treatment is inhibited). This limitation makes the cost unaffordable for SMEs, who can decide not to comply with EU directives and discharge without prior treatment, causing severe damage to the environment.

Project description Saltgae Project is an innovative modular technology platform for the efficient treatment of saline wastewaters with organic load, enabling: Ease of operation Significant cost reductions Compliance with European Directives Recycling of water for non-potable applications and valorising contaminants as a valuable resource.

Project objectives Technical Social-environmental To develop a techno-economically viable solution for the treatment of saline wastewaters from the Food and Beverage industry, implement and demonstrate it at large scale, pursuing the following target performance: efficiency of BOD, N and P removal (> 90%) and algae biomass growth (> 15 g/m2/day); able to deal with different salinity levels (2 g/L to 60 g/L), wastewater compositions and cultivation conditions; cost reduction > 40% with respect to current alternatives for saline wastewater with organic load; able to valorize the algae biomass, transforming the reject in revenue, with an increment > 15% profit margin earned per tonne of algae biomass produced. Social-environmental To develop an innovative platform for the mobilization and networking of stakeholders from all the different sectors related to wastewater, for the dissemination of results with the aim of promoting paradigm shift in perception from ‘wastewater treatment’ to ‘resource valorisation’.

Partners

Consortium demo location

Saltgae basics A Horizon 2020 project: Action programme Water 1b-2015 Started 01-Jun-2016 Ends 31-May-2019 Estimated Project Cost €9 800 000 Requested EU Contribution €8 300 000 Project Coordinator José Ignacio Lozano (Funditec) Project Officer Erik Pentimalli (EASME/B/02)

Saltgae conceptual diagram Resins, adhesive, coatings, bio-composites Biomass valorisation Energy (biogas) Brine Saline waste water COD, N, P, salt Sludge valorisation Algal pond Effluent valorisation Clean water Pre-treatment COD removal N & P removal Salinity removal

Scientific highlights Scientific Challenges (by stage) Sludge valorisation Remove of suspended solids, removal of 25-30% of incoming COD (via DAF) Removal of 90% thick solids for Anaerobic Digestion Adaptation of AD to high salinity water; 70-80% BOD removal and Effluent (BOD) < 500 ppm to feed HRAP Production of Biogas closer to theoretical conversion BOD/Biogas Effluents valorisation Selection of the best pretreatment for 99% removal of mass foulants ED: achieve low conductivities (1-2 mS/cm) with sufficient yields to consider a viable industrial installation (>50%). RO: development of a new high pressure pump Higher energy efficiency (up to 95%), and an ERD recovering 98%; Biomass valorisation Harvesting profitable: from 1 g/L to a final paste concentration of 250-280 g/L and cost < 0.40 to 0.35 Euros/kg Refinement: Fractionate biomass into oily (80% purity), protein (>65% purity) and cell debris. Biomass for Animal Feed: replacement to fishmeal or to reduce the use of antibiotics. Biomass for Coatings and Adhesives: Demonstrators of green building blocks and edible coatings Algal pond Adaptation of microalgae/bacteria consortium to halotolerant environment Technology integration and pilot scale algae pond, energy efficiency 50% (better than regular design) Construction cost of fully equipped pond ~ 100€/m2 at 500m2 (depending on cover, thermal insulation, heating & cooling); Suitability for various climatic conditions; suitability for different quality grades of algal products

Project structure and Partners Support services Sludge valorisation Effluents valorisation Biomass valorisation Algal Ponds Science & Technology Commercial

Preliminary tests & methodology A. Microbiome of tannery WW B. Microbiome of D. salina in tannery WW C. Microbiome of Spirulina in tannery WW Krona pie-charts of microbiome associated with: Tannery WW without algae D. salina grown in tannery 10% v/v Spirulina grown in tannery 10% v/v

hydrolysis acidogenesis acetogenesis Sludge valorisation Anaerobic digestion in high salinity Two stage AD CH4, CO2 CH4, CO2 VFAs Etanol hydrolysis acidogenesis acetogenesis methanogenesis 50 g Na / L 127 g NaCl / L 20 g Na / L 50 g NaCl / L Dilution with desalinated water Anaerobic granules

Biomass valorisation

Effluent valorisation Ultrafiltration Electrodialysis High pressure RO pump and energy recovery device

Ljubljana Slovenia (KOTO) Camporosso Italy (Archimede) Demo sites Ljubljana Slovenia (KOTO) Hide warehouse effluent Camporosso Italy (Archimede) Dairy cleaning wastewater Arava Israel (Arava) Fishery wastewater

Ljubljana Demo

Ljubljana demo site (KOTO)

Ljubljana Demo

Arava demo Three 1 m3 HRAPs in a greenhouse; Two 5 m3 HRAPs constructed with different materials to test material and design of HRAPs for the project. Three 50 m3 HRAPs are under construction. fish system, indoor tanks and filters; outdoor sedimentation tank and biofilter; reservoir tank; barramundi fish

Camporosso Demo

Thank you Questions? Welcome to vidit the demo sites!