Last October, the REWAISE team met in Malmö, Sweden, for the 4th General Assembly to review the progress of the project, present the technologies under development, and visit the facilities of the Skaene Living Lab in Malmö and Lund. 2 days of meetings were organized by VA SYD and the Swedish team, in which the entire consortium of 25 partners from 11 countries participated actively.
The meeting started with a project overview by the project coordinator, Frank Rogalla, R&D director in Aqualia. The morning continued with the presentation of results from several technologies that are being developed and implemented within REWAISE. Technologies such as the AnMBR, a membrane reactor for anaerobic nutrient and energy recovery tested in a major car factory in Vigo, to convert organic matter directly to biomethane, without wasting electricity on aeration.
Also, Severn Trent (STW) in the UK presented remote valve actuators in distribution networks to increase response speed and lower cost of remediation when water flows need to be redirected. To reduce overflows from sewers, Intelligent Wastewater network (IWAN) is being implemented as an autonomous flow control system allowing to halve undesirable incidents while reducing CAPEX by 80%, compared to conventional solutions.
Organics presented their Ammonia recovery solution,where stripping of ammonia from sludge streams is enhanced using various energy formats such as biogas, or exhaust heat, etc. A completely automated pilot in a container will be installed at the Spernal Test Bed of STW.
On the desalination side, the progress in Brine recovery was presented, to separate, concentrate and recover minerals from seawater. To extract Limestone, Gypsum, NaCl, and Mg (OH)2,, evaporation ponds have been designed and simulations were developed to achieve the required mineral concentration, depending on weather conditions.
Finally, the pilot installed on a stormwater pond in Lund to recover rainwater through membrane filtration was presented. This plant operated for 19 consecutive days with an average flow of 100 l/h, and a specific flow rate of 25 l/m2*h, showing good reduction rates for COD, heavy metals, ammonia, and bacteria.
In the afternoon, there was a tour visit to the REWAISE pilot plants in the cities of Malmö and Lund. The consortium could visit the Källby Sewage treatment plant in the city of Lund, where new process optimisations are being tested, the new sustainable housing development Sege Park in Malmö, and the urine sorting toilet to recover fertilizer at VA SYD headquarters.
On the second day REWAISE’s WINcubator was launched by the Water Innovation Network (WIN), to enable new technologies to enter the water market faster. This event, entitled “Resilient Water Management with Global Water Networks“, was held at the Media Evolution City in Malmö, and attended by innovative technology companies from the United States, Norway, United Kingdom, Poland, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Croatia, and Saudi Arabia.
In this hybrid meeting, innovative solutions for water nutrient recycling, brine extraction and decentralized water reuse systems were introduced, as well as a robot for pipe condition detection and network computer analysis.
The 4th General Assembly concluded with the workshop on Competency Groups and Living Lab Assessment led by ENoLL, WE&B and the Centre for Agroecology, Water & Resilience from Coventry University. Previously, the consortium enjoyed a master class on the experience of Botnia Living Lab in Northern Sweden, focused on human-centric research, and the development and innovation of new ICT-based services.
Apart from the technical sessions and pilot plants visits, there was also time for networking and sharing fun experiences in Malmö. Thanks to the VA SYD colleagues and the entire Swedish team for such a well-organized event.
