Eliminació de microcontaminants orgànics d’aigües residuals mitjançant processos de sorció

El projecte que es presenta en aquest document, té com a finalitat l’estudi dels processos de sorció per a la separació sòlid – líquid, aplicats a l’eliminació de microcontaminants orgànics procedents d’efluents industrials, basant-se principalment en l’estudi detallat de la modelització d’aquests processos. Per a poder realitzar una bona modelització, és bàsic estudiar tant la branca de l’equilibri com la de cinètica. Dins la part d’equilibri es realitzen les isotermes d’adsorció, les quals mostren la distribució de l’adsorbat entre la fase adsorbida i la solució a l’equilibri a una temperatura determinada. Segons quines són les hipòtesis inicials i les simplificacions realitzades, es poden trobar diferents expressions per al càlcul de les isotermes. Les més utilitzades, i conseqüentment les que s’han aplicat per als càlculs d’aquest projecte, són les isotermes de Langmuir, Freundlich , Temkin i Redlich – Peterson, havent-se creat una macro en entorn Excel per al càlcul còmode i eficaç de les tres primeres. D’altra banda, també és necessari disposar d’un model matemàtic que descrigui la cinètica del procés. La cinètica dels processos de sorció pot arribar a ser molt complexa en funció del model utilitzat, i tot i haver-ne estudiat diversos de diferent grau de complexitat, han estat els models HPDM i SPM els escollits per a calcular els dos paràmetres cinètics bàsics: el coeficient de difusió efectiu i el coeficient de transferència de matèria. Per altra banda, s’ha volgut aprofundir més en aquest camp, i s’ha realitzat un programa amb Maple utilitzant el model HSDM, el qual és molt més complex però a la vegada més fiable. Aquest programa informàtic s’ha creat amb l’objectiu de poder disposar d’una eina que permeti simular el comportament d’un sistema sense necessitat d’haver de realitzar un treball experimental previ. Per últim s’ha realitzat un disseny molt bàsic de l’equipament necessari per a realitzar el tractament d’aigües mitjançant processos de sorció a escala de laboratori. Els resultats obtinguts mostren que les dues isotermes que més s’ajusten a les dades experimentals són la de Langmuir i la de Temkin. Per altra banda, dins la part cinètica, s’ha pogut comprovar que l’etapa controlant de la velocitat depèn tant de l’adsorbat com de l’adsorbent que composin el sistema. Cal tenir en compte que aquestes dades són una primera aproximació a la definició del dimensionament del tractament a escala pilot com a fase prèvia a la seva implementació a escala real

Eliminació de microcontaminants orgànics d’aigües residuals mitjançant processos de sorció

El projecte que es presenta en aquest document, té com a finalitat l’estudi dels processos de sorció per a la separació sòlid – líquid, aplicats a l’eliminació de microcontaminants orgànics procedents d’efluents industrials, basant-se principalment en l’estudi detallat de la modelització d’aquests processos. Per a poder realitzar una bona modelització, és bàsic estudiar tant la branca de l’equilibri com la de cinètica. Dins la part d’equilibri es realitzen les isotermes d’adsorció, les quals mostren la distribució de l’adsorbat entre la fase adsorbida i la solució a l’equilibri a una temperatura determinada. Segons quines són les hipòtesis inicials i les simplificacions realitzades, es poden trobar diferents expressions per al càlcul de les isotermes. Les més utilitzades, i conseqüentment les que s’han aplicat per als càlculs d’aquest projecte, són les isotermes de Langmuir, Freundlich , Temkin i Redlich – Peterson, havent-se creat una macro en entorn Excel per al càlcul còmode i eficaç de les tres primeres. D’altra banda, també és necessari disposar d’un model matemàtic que descrigui la cinètica del procés. La cinètica dels processos de sorció pot arribar a ser molt complexa en funció del model utilitzat, i tot i haver-ne estudiat diversos de diferent grau de complexitat, han estat els models HPDM i SPM els escollits per a calcular els dos paràmetres cinètics bàsics: el coeficient de difusió efectiu i el coeficient de transferència de matèria. Per altra banda, s’ha volgut aprofundir més en aquest camp, i s’ha realitzat un programa amb Maple utilitzant el model HSDM, el qual és molt més complex però a la vegada més fiable. Aquest programa informàtic s’ha creat amb l’objectiu de poder disposar d’una eina que permeti simular el comportament d’un sistema sense necessitat d’haver de realitzar un treball experimental previ. Per últim s’ha realitzat un disseny molt bàsic de l’equipament necessari per a realitzar el tractament d’aigües mitjançant processos de sorció a escala de laboratori. Els resultats obtinguts mostren que les dues isotermes que més s’ajusten a les dades experimentals són la de Langmuir i la de Temkin. Per altra banda, dins la part cinètica, s’ha pogut comprovar que l’etapa controlant de la velocitat depèn tant de l’adsorbat com de l’adsorbent que composin el sistema. Cal tenir en compte que aquestes dades són una primera aproximació a la definició del dimensionament del tractament a escala pilot com a fase prèvia a la seva implementació a escala real

Sustainable nutrient recovery from animal manure: A review of current best practice technology and the potential for freeze concentration

Current trends of livestock expansion and associated mass production of manure bring a net import of nutrients that have led to a significant excess in many areas. The implementation of an efficient and more economical technology solution to recover and re-use nutrients from raw or digested wastes is essential and will reduce the need for fossil-fuel based fertilizers. From a waste management standpoint, the identification of nutrient recovery technologies is considered one of the main challenges within a circular economy context. Several traditional techniques exist for manure treatment such as, gasification, thermochemical conversion, composting, hydrothermal carbonization, and liquefaction. However, these technologies face many challenges related to energy consumption and recovered nutrient quality. In this context, freeze concentration (FC) is an emerging technique that can be applied to recover water and concentrate nutrients from waste liquid effluents. This technology brings advantages such as high concentration factor and low energy usage. However, freeze concentration technology is only semi-industrialised and for most applications remains at the development stage. Many studies have been conducted to design and develop processes and applications that target the improvement of both productivity and efficiency, which makes freeze concentration an attractive research subject to the scientific community. Combination of freeze concentration technology with another technology, such as membranes, to generate a more efficient hybrid process must also be considered. This approach of resource recovery from animal manure would ultimately create a more sustainable and circular economy. This paper evaluates the current state-of-the-art and processing strategies related to the treatment of livestock waste materials and contains an up-to-date and critical review on nutrient-rich effluent valorization technologies; focusing on the latest technological progress to recover nutrients from animal manure and introduces the potential that freeze concentration offers, which has only been marginally explored to date. This work makes a comparative analysis of the different processes in terms of their efficiency, cost, energy consumption, operational management, and the results obtained from both bench and large-scale experiments; making it possible to determine the current best practice procedures for the treatment of animal manure

Brewer's spent grain as a no-cost substrate for polyhydroxyalkanoates production: Assessment of pretreatment strategies and different bacterial strains

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are polyesters of significant interest due to their biodegradability and properties similar to petroleum-derived plastics, as well as the fact that they can be produced from renewable sources such as by-product streams. In this study, brewer's spent grain (BSG), the main by-product of the brewing industry, was subjected to a set of physicochemical pretreatments and their effect on the release of reducing sugars (RS) was evaluated. The RS obtained were used as a substrate for further PHA production in Burkholderia cepacia, Bacillus cereus, and Cupriavidus necator in liquid cultures. Although some pretreatments proved efficient in releasing RS (acid-thermal pretreatment up to 42.1 gRS L-1 and 0.77 gRS g(-1) dried BSG), the generation of inhibitors in such scenarios likely affected PHA production compared with the process run without pretreatment (direct enzymatic hydrolysis of BSG). Thus, the maximum PHA accumulation from BSG hydrolysates was found in the reference case with 0.31 +/- 0.02 g PHA per g cell dried weight, corresponding to 1.13 +/- 0.06 g L-1 and a PHA yield of 23 +/- 1 mg g(-1) BSG. It was also found that C. necator presented the highest PHA accumulation of the tested strains followed closely by B. cepacia, reaching their maxima at 48 h. Although BSG has been used as a source for other bioproducts, these results show the potential of this by-product as a no-cost raw material for producing PHAs in a waste valorization and circular economy scheme

Treatment with tocilizumab or corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients with hyperinflammatory state: a multicentre cohort study (SAM-COVID-19)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between tocilizumab or corticosteroids and the risk of intubation or death in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) with a hyperinflammatory state according to clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: A cohort study was performed in 60 Spanish hospitals including 778 patients with COVID-19 and clinical and laboratory data indicative of a hyperinflammatory state. Treatment was mainly with tocilizumab, an intermediate-high dose of corticosteroids (IHDC), a pulse dose of corticosteroids (PDC), combination therapy, or no treatment. Primary outcome was intubation or death; follow-up was 21 days. Propensity score-adjusted estimations using Cox regression (logistic regression if needed) were calculated. Propensity scores were used as confounders, matching variables and for the inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs). Results: In all, 88, 117, 78 and 151 patients treated with tocilizumab, IHDC, PDC, and combination therapy, respectively, were compared with 344 untreated patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 10 (11.4%), 27 (23.1%), 12 (15.4%), 40 (25.6%) and 69 (21.1%), respectively. The IPTW-based hazard ratios (odds ratio for combination therapy) for the primary endpoint were 0.32 (95%CI 0.22-0.47; p < 0.001) for tocilizumab, 0.82 (0.71-1.30; p 0.82) for IHDC, 0.61 (0.43-0.86; p 0.006) for PDC, and 1.17 (0.86-1.58; p 0.30) for combination therapy. Other applications of the propensity score provided similar results, but were not significant for PDC. Tocilizumab was also associated with lower hazard of death alone in IPTW analysis (0.07; 0.02-0.17; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Tocilizumab might be useful in COVID-19 patients with a hyperinflammatory state and should be prioritized for randomized trials in this situatio

D6.1 FERTIMANURE Plan for Exploitation and Dissemination of Results – 1st version

The Preliminary Plan for the Exploitation and Dissemination of Results (PEDR) is a strategic document for setting the impact pathway of FERTIMANURE since the project beginning. The main objective of FERTIMANURE project is to develop, integrate, test and validate innovative Nutrient Management Strategies to efficiently recover mineral nutrients and other relevant products with agronomic value (organic amendments and biostimulants) from animal manure, to finally obtain reliable and safe fertilisers that can compete in the European fertilizers market. FERTIMANURE project will demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the obtained BBFs and TMFs and their ability to replace current mineral fertilisers, including: (i) Tests under controlled conditions (incubation and pot-tests): Assessment of: (1) N release patterns; (2) P plant availability; (3) Biological activated organic amendments as plant growth promoters; (4) Biostimulants assessment as plant growth promoters for the nutrient uptake and tolerance against hydric & saline stress. Crops under assessment: Wheat, barley, maize, fodder maize, grass, ray grass. (ii) Field validation in real environment: Agronomic performance in quadruplicate-randomized block design; Environmental performance, including nutrient efficiency vs losses. Crops under assessment: Wheat, barley, maize, grass, corn, spinach, potatoes, tomatoes, vines. FERTIMANURE project specifically provides 3 innovative nutrient management strategies: 1) Direct use of the BBFs obtained by treating manure with innovative technologies; 2) Centralised TMFs production and 3) On-farm TMFs production. This document is the first version (M6) of the Plan for Exploitation and Dissemination of Results (PEDR) of FERRTIMANURE project. The contents of the first release include an overview of the concepts of Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation relative strategies and action plans that the consortium will follow to promote the project, to foster the knowledge of its results and to ensure their uptake for future business opportunities. All these activities aim to help maximize the impact of results. The PEDR will be updated during the project in the following months: M26, M36 and M48.H2020 (Grant no. 862849

Eliminació de microcontaminants orgànics d’aigües residuals mitjançant processos de sorció

El projecte que es presenta en aquest document, té com a finalitat l’estudi dels processos de sorció per a la separació sòlid – líquid, aplicats a l’eliminació de microcontaminants orgànics procedents d’efluents industrials, basant-se principalment en l’estudi detallat de la modelització d’aquests processos. Per a poder realitzar una bona modelització, és bàsic estudiar tant la branca de l’equilibri com la de cinètica. Dins la part d’equilibri es realitzen les isotermes d’adsorció, les quals mostren la distribució de l’adsorbat entre la fase adsorbida i la solució a l’equilibri a una temperatura determinada. Segons quines són les hipòtesis inicials i les simplificacions realitzades, es poden trobar diferents expressions per al càlcul de les isotermes. Les més utilitzades, i conseqüentment les que s’han aplicat per als càlculs d’aquest projecte, són les isotermes de Langmuir, Freundlich , Temkin i Redlich – Peterson, havent-se creat una macro en entorn Excel per al càlcul còmode i eficaç de les tres primeres. D’altra banda, també és necessari disposar d’un model matemàtic que descrigui la cinètica del procés. La cinètica dels processos de sorció pot arribar a ser molt complexa en funció del model utilitzat, i tot i haver-ne estudiat diversos de diferent grau de complexitat, han estat els models HPDM i SPM els escollits per a calcular els dos paràmetres cinètics bàsics: el coeficient de difusió efectiu i el coeficient de transferència de matèria. Per altra banda, s’ha volgut aprofundir més en aquest camp, i s’ha realitzat un programa amb Maple utilitzant el model HSDM, el qual és molt més complex però a la vegada més fiable. Aquest programa informàtic s’ha creat amb l’objectiu de poder disposar d’una eina que permeti simular el comportament d’un sistema sense necessitat d’haver de realitzar un treball experimental previ. Per últim s’ha realitzat un disseny molt bàsic de l’equipament necessari per a realitzar el tractament d’aigües mitjançant processos de sorció a escala de laboratori. Els resultats obtinguts mostren que les dues isotermes que més s’ajusten a les dades experimentals són la de Langmuir i la de Temkin. Per altra banda, dins la part cinètica, s’ha pogut comprovar que l’etapa controlant de la velocitat depèn tant de l’adsorbat com de l’adsorbent que composin el sistema. Cal tenir en compte que aquestes dades són una primera aproximació a la definició del dimensionament del tractament a escala pilot com a fase prèvia a la seva implementació a escala real

D7.3 Dissemination & communication material (brochures, posters, presentations, video, articles)

The main objective of the communication and dissemination material is to showcase the project in every event, conference, webinar, etc. that any of the FERTIMANURE partners will be attending throughout the duration of the project. For the first six months of the project, GreenWin decided to create a leaflet, a poster template and a roll-up template. GreenWin also created a press release in M5 of the project and an e-newsletter that will be sent on the first week of July. All of the communication and dissemination material was created taking into account the Work Package Leaders (WPL) feedback to make sure that the most relevant aspects of the project were taken into account. The aim of this document is to briefly explain the communication and dissemination material that was crated and also to explain the main sections contained in these.H2020 (Grant no. 862849

D7.2 Project website

The main objective of the FERTIMANURE website, www.fertimanure.eu, is to act as the main communication and dissemination platform for the project. Its main objective is to increase the project’s awareness and to keep all the stakeholders up to date with the advancements and progress of the project through different publications that will be posted and displayed in the website. The website will be monitored continuously as well as content will be added in a regular basis to make sure that it is really the main channel used to communicate with the different audiences involved in the project. Through the website, which is the most important communication channel, we will build a brand that will be recognized by the different stakeholders and that will be used as well in the other communication materials like the video, the leaflets, the logo, the poster. This brand will represent FERTIMANURE in all the communication channels, from which the website will be the most important. The aim of this document is to briefly explain the strategy behind the creation of website, the way it was designed and the different sections that will be an integral part of it. The project website will be published and available on-line the 8th of May 2020.H2020 (Grant no. 862849

D1.5 Report on capitalization of relevant projects results

The work developed in this task is part of the WP1. FERTIMANURE framework, in particular of Task 1.5 Capitalization of relevant projects results developed by LEITAT, whose aim is to identify on-going and finished projects related with manure in the field of nutrient recycling, manure management, bio-based fertilizers and dissemination. The task aims to ensure maximisation of synergies between FERTIMANURE tasks and other related project activities and also elimination of all possible cases of overlaps. For that purpose, the approach is to become permanently aligned with all FERTIMANURE work packages and create an interactive and living tool, in order to make the accumulated experience usable during the project execution, linking with other related project outputs, skills and expertise. For the first thirteen months of the project, LEITAT created a database to compile all the projects related with FERTIMANURE framework. This database was filled in within partners contributions, European Sustainable Phosphorous Platform (ESPP) database(https://phosphorusplatform.eu) and Biorefine Cluster Europe (www.biorefine.eu/) with a total database of 163 projects. Information about running and finished projects was obtained including: name, acronym, website, summary (relevant information for FERTIMANURE), end date, partner coordinator, contact person, type of funding, current status, type of project (national, European or international). This information will be published at the FERTIMANURE website (www.fertimanure.eu) and can be used by stakeholders and general public. Each project was categorized by thematic area and the main objectives within the following categories: Organic wastes, Technology, End-products, Dissemination, Crop systems and Management. These categories were used to create a word cloud which includes the relevant information for FERTIMANURE of all the projects categorized. Moreover, data analysis was developed in order to obtain relevant results about the information compiled like diversity of projects or budget. Finally, LEITAT together with all FERTIMANURE partners selected the 5 most relevant projects in order to arrange a meeting with the coordinator. These meetings will have the objective of taking advantage of all the previous work done in the field of nutrient recycling and manure management, fertilization using BBFs or dissemination. The objectives of this work is basically to identify: • which are the challenges that have been identified in order to learn from them and avoid similar problems in FERTIMANURE, • the most relevant results in order to avoid overlaps and take advantage of the results specially addressed by FERTIMANURE and go beyond • in the on-going projects, identify potential synergies with FERTIMANURE and to monitor the projects results.H2020 (Grant no. 862849