SMART-Plant_Demonstration of resource recovery from wastewater and related cross-sectorial value chain within Horizon 2020 SMART-Plant

The lack scale-up and long-term demonstration in real environment of eco-innovative resource recovery and reuse solutions is one of the main barriers for circular economy principles in wastewater systems management. Within this context, since 2016 the Horizon2020 SMART-Plant Innovation Action (www.smart-plant.eu) is delivering scaled-up solutions in n.6 existing wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) with the aim to recover and recycle chemicals and nutrients in an energy- and carbon efficient way. In those Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRFs), besides CaPO4 and struvite, more than 400 kg per week of clean cellulose fibres or cellulosic sludge (Crutchik et al., 2018), more than 1 kg polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) per day are to produce sludge-wood-plastic bio-composites, fertilizer and biofertilizers, biomass fuel, sludge-added mortars and cement.