Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)

www.uab.cat, www.genocov.com

The history of the UAB begins on 6 June 1968, when the decree on the creation of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) is officially promulgated. Since its first years, the UAB strived to set the foundations for a university model based on the respect for the basic principles of autonomy, participation and social commitment. After not even 50 years of existence, the UAB has consolidated itself among the two hundred best universities in the world in the main university rankings, and since the 2011/12 academic year it is one of the 10 young universities with the highest international projection and global prestige.

UAB is the second Spanish university in the post prestigious rankings. The Department of Chemical, Biological and Enviromental Engineering at UAB is a department with a high focus on research, with different groups interacting in the utilisation of microorganisms for the bioproduction of added-value compounds or for the biodegradation of pollutants from either solid or fluid phases. Among the different research groups in the department, GENOCOV stands for Group of biological treatment and valorization of liquid and gaseous effluents, removal of nutrients, odours and Volatile Organic Compounds. GENOCOV, whose principal investigator is Prof. Francisco Javier Lafuente, has been active over the last 25 years in understanding the biological processes for the treatment of urban and industrial wastewater and gaseous effluents, with special emphasis on monitoring, modelling and control of such complex biological systems. The quality of the research group can be measured at first sight through several quality indices such as several EU projects and projects funded by the Spanish Government. With respect to publications, in the last 5 years the group has more than 70 peer-reviewed international journals publications as well as an important participation in international conferences.

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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.