Outreach

One of the main goals of the SuPER-W ITN is to increase awareness on the importance of resource recovery from wastewater in the context of environmental and economic sustainability. To realize this the SuPER-W fellows actively participate in different conferences to give oral and poster presentations of their various projects as well as publish the results of their research results. Fellows also share their research experiences through different multimedia clips, public presentations and articles.

The SuPER-W fellows also carry out outreach activities for public audiences in Europe and other countries by creating projects designed to encourage the public in practicing and supporting resource recovery.

Outreach

SuPER-W Conference Publication: Comparison of specific methanogenic activity of sludge from full scale mesophilic and thermophilic digesters

ESR5 Iryna Lanko attended the 15th IWA World Conference on Anaerobic Digestion (AD-15) in Beijing, China. She presented her most recent work with a poster presentation.

Abstract

There are still some uncertainties in application of anaerobic digestion at different temperature ranges. In this work one of the key parameters such as specific methanogenic activity (SMA) was studied at thermophilic (55°C) and mesophilic (35°C) conditions. The standard method of SMA testing was used with cellulose as a substrate. The sludge was taken from five full-scale digesters operated at Czech wastewater treatment plants. The experiment showed that under thermophilic conditions SMA is significantly higher. SMAs of the mesophilic sludges were 0.10-0.13 grams of CH4-COD per gram of VSS and...

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SuPER-W Journal Publication: Life cycle assessment of high rate algal ponds for wastewater treatment and resource recovery

The aim of this study was to assess the potential environmental impacts associated with high rate algal ponds (HRAP) systems for wastewater treatment and resource recovery in small communities. To this aim, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was carried out evaluating two alternatives: i) a HRAP system for wastewater treatment where microalgal biomass is valorized for energy recovery (biogas production); ii) a HRAP system for wastewater treatment where microalgal biomass is reused for nutrients recovery (biofertilizer production). Additionally, both alternatives were compared to a typical small-sized activated sludge system. An economic assessment was also performed. The results showed that HRAP system coupled with biogas production appeared to be more environmentally friendly than HRAP...

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