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Project title

Novel Eco-sensitive Wastewater Treatment Recovering dairy Industry Effluent NuTrientS (NEWTRIENTS)

Primary Funding Agency

Environmental Protection Agency

Co-Funding Organisation(s)

n/a

Lead Organisation

University College Cork (UCC)

Lead Applicant

Marcel Jansen

Project Abstract

Ireland has embedded an expansion of 50% increase in output from the dairy sector; however consideration must be given to sustainable management of the inevitable increase in wastewater production such an expansion will bring. The NEWTRIENTS project aims to deliver such innovation through value added dairy wastewater resource recovery. The ambition of the NEWTRIENTS project is to demonstrate a circular economy approach to dairy processing industry wastewater resulting in a paradigm shift from wastewater treatment to closed loop reuse of valuable components present in the effluent within the local and global economy. The environmental and economic benefits of the NEWTRIENTS process will be: � the production of a high value agricultural feed as a replacement for imported high protein feeds � production of a biodegradable plastic as a replacement for fossil-fuel based plastics � avoiding the generation of large amounts of inorganic phosphorus sludge � the recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus from dairy wastewater effluents � sequestration of CO2 from aerobic wastewater treatment processes The vision of the NEWTRIENTS project is to transform expensive and environmentally inefficient wastewater treatment processes into a source of revenue for the dairy processing industry reducing costs and making the industry more competitive globally. The main technical goal of the ambitious NEWTRIENTS project will be to demonstrate at pilot scale the performance of a coupled reactor system module for bioplastics production and Lemna minor propagation using dairy industry wastewater as a feedstock. The project will produce at least 8 peer-reviewed publications and a technical report. One of the most important outcomes of the NEWTRIENTS project however will be to build expertise and research capacity in Ireland for the recovery of resources from wastewaters. The focus in this project is on industry wastewaters but there is no reason why the technologies under development could not be used for other industry or municipal wastewaters. The project will contribute to building a base of expertise within the Environmental Research Institute at University College Cork in combining engineering, biological, microbiological, chemical and engineering solutions for resource recovery across a range of waste streams within the context of the circular economy which is a core strategic objective of the Institute.

Grant Approved

�648,839.88

Research Hub

Natural Environment

Research Theme

Innovative water technologies

Start Date

31/03/2017

Initial Projected Completion Date

30/03/2021