Articles

Universitat de Vic (UVIC-UCC)

www.uvic.cat

The UVic-UCC has promoted academic quality and a student-centred training approach. The University nurtures a strong commitment to Catalonia and Spain as well as to its regional (Central Catalonia) development, by promoting technological innovation, sustainability and strong cooperation with the world of entrepreneurship. UVic-UCC has been actively developing its research and knowledge transfer activities since it was founded in 1997. Research is organised through 23 research groups in the fields of Experimental Science, Medicine, Humanities and Social Sciences.

The ongoing growth in research activity at UVic-UCC has enhanced their competitive position and led to numerous cooperation agreements with enterprises and institutions that contribute to knowledge transfer, regional development and national and international prestige.

The Technology Centre for Biodiversity, Ecology and Environmental Technology (BETA Tech. Center) at the UVic-UCC aims to improve competitiveness and technological development in companies through R&D projects at a local, state or European level developing and transferring innovative and competitive technology with sustainable criteria to the food and environment sectors. BETA Tech. Center is part of TECNIO, a network promoted and supported by the Catalan Government (Department of Industry) for promoting differential technology, business innovation and excellence in Catalonia. A group of over 25 researchers (postdoctoral researchers, doctoral students and laboratory technicians) makes up the BETA Tech. Center multidisciplinary team that is structured in 4 different strategic areas: Technology and Environmental Management, Aquatic and Land Ecology, Food Industry and Technology and Renewable Energies. The multidisciplinary composition of the group enables BETA to develop R&D projects to solve wide-ranging problems in the field of knowledge, control and management of the environment. Furthermore, since 1999, the Research Group in Biodiversity, Ecology and Environmental Technologies (BETA), which is completely integrated in the BETA Tech. Center, has been working in the research field of environmental engineering, being the main research line of the group with more than 60 contracts signed with private companies and providing the centre with a fully equipped laboratory. In addition, some members of BETA have promoted two spin-off (AERIS and AXIA Environmental Technologies S.L.) working in the field of environmental technologies.

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SMART-Plant scales-up in real environment eco-innovative and energy-efficient solutions to renovate existing wastewater treatment plants and close the circular value chain by applying low-carbon techniques to recover materials that are otherwise lost.

Seven plus two (7+2) pilot systems were optimized for more than two years in real environment in five municipal water treatment plants, including also two post-processing facilities. The systems were automatized with the aim of optimizing wastewater treatment, resource recovery, energy-efficiency and reduction of greenhouse emissions. A comprehensive SMART portfolio comprising biopolymers, cellulose, fertilizers and intermediates were recovered and processed up to the final commercializable end-products.

Dynamic modeling and superstructure framework for decision support was developed and validated to identify the optimum SMART-Plant system integration options for recovered resources and technologies.

The integration of resource recovery assets to system wide asset management programs were evaluated in each site following the resource recovery paradigm for the wastewater treatment plant of the future, enabled through SMART-Plant solutions. The project proved the feasibility of circular management of urban wastewater and environmental sustainability of the systems, through Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing approaches as well as the global benefit of the scaled-up water solutions.

Global market deployment was achieved as right fit solution for water utilities and relevant industrial stakeholders, considering the strategic implications of the resource recovery paradigm in case of both public and private water management. New public-private partnership models were also explored connecting the water sector to the chemical industry and its downstream segments such as the construction and agricultural sector, thus generating new opportunities for funding and potential public-private competition.