New plant technology will be officially unveiled at Cranfield University today that will enable researchers to remove and recover nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater for use by the fertilizer and chemical industries. The technology, based on the use of ion exchange and selective media (SMARTech3), is being unveiled as part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 SMART-Plant project.
SMARTech3 is a 10m3 demonstration scale plant that is installed at the University’s on-site sewage works, with its own dedicated pilot-plant hall.
The SMART-Plant project aims to scale-up innovative and energy-efficient solutions that will renovate existing wastewater treatment plants and enable low-carbon capture of materials that would otherwise be lost.
SMART-Plant, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme, is a project with 25 partners that aims to move forward the scale-up of low-carbon footprint material recovery techniques in wastewater treatment plants. The project demonstrates technologies that result in the production of energy, chemicals and other materials such as cellulose, bioplastics, ammonium sulphate, struvite, calcium phosphate from wastewater.
Commenting on the opening of SMARTech3, Dr Ana Soares, Senior Lecturer in Biological Engineering said: “This new plant technology, at Cranfield, will enable us to demonstrate how existing wastewater treatment plants can be renovated in order to capture nitrogen and phosphorus that can then be used by other industries.”
For further information please contact:
Media Relations, Cranfield University. T: +44 (0) 1234 75 4999
Email: mediarelations@cranfield.ac.uk
