Presentation of the Best Practice
Target challenge
- Water for irrigation and food production is not available
- Poor quality of treated water
- High health risk
- Environmental pollution
- Overexploited groundwater
- NCW not valued locally
- Move towards zero discharge at local level
- High treatment cost
- Better selection of Implementation criteria of NCW systems
- Inadequate decisions by decision-makers
- Reclacitrance to use treated NCW
Area Typology
- Urban area
Main beneficiaries
- Water Utilities
- Municipalities
- Farmers
- Management Authorities
Impact on the beneficiaries of your Best Practice:
The beneficiaries include the staff of public and private entities, sewerage companies, engineers, constructors, operators of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), the farmers and the general public/local community. For the latter, the APOC system contributes to the provision of an additional water supply that would otherwise be lost, thus preventing the high cost of importing freshwater and conveying it over a long distance. In areas where the water demand is not met: Additional revenue from the sale of reclaimed water and savings in the form of avoided or delayed costs of developing new fresh water sources and less treatment of surface water abstraction. For farmers, the APOC system provides an alternative water source for irrigation, that is readily available all year, as well as additional source of fertilizer (solid digestate) and nutrients, lessening the need to apply synthetic fertilizers. A decentralized APOC reuse system could reduce the impact of combined sewer overflows emissions and recharge local rivers to maintain the ecology and enable aquifer recharge. Improvement in public health, by protecting downstream water supplies from contaminations (and so, indirectly decreasing the costs of treatment for those downstream communities.
Funding
- EU funding
Used technologies / tools
- (i) Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB)
- (ii) Anaerobic Baffled Reactor (ABR)
- (iii) Anaerobic Sequencing Batch Reactor (ASBR)
- (iv) Anaerobic Fluidized Bed Reactor (AFBR)
- (v) the Anaerobic Filter (AF)
- Anaerobic Fixed Film Reactor (AFFR)
- CWs: Constructed Wetland
- the cost-effective treatment of urban wastewater (with the acronym APOC)
- comprises anaerobic digestion (AD)
- constructed wetlands (CWs)
- a novel solar Raceway Pond Reactor (RPR)
- for final disinfection and removal of organic micropollutants
- (e.g. residual pharmaceuticals and degradation by products, etc.).
Implementation site
Thessaloniki
NCW type
- Municipal wastewater (MWW)
NCW USE
- Ecosystem
- Toilet Flushing
- Garden Irrigation
- Field irrigation
- Recreation Area
Self-Assessment
TRL : Technology Levels
TRL7
Description of the innovative component:
In comparison to conventional domestic wastewater treatment processes and other tertiary water reclamation methods APOC is characterized by distinct attributes in relation to cost, social acceptability, simplicity of design, construction, operation and maintenance, hydrogeological conditions and local availability of materials and skills. These attributes are related with the innovative and effective combination of processes which are less intensive, consume less energy, based on natural processes and result in products of significant added value (biogas, solid fertilizer and clean water for reuse).
Obstacles to implementation
- Isuffi cient funding instruments to support solution for NCW
- Lack of public acceptance of water reuse
- Other (Please specify below)
- Lack of funding for the continuous operation of BPs (at demo scale) after the life time of the project The lack of interest by the involved stakeholders/end users (no regulations enforcement concerning the need to treat and reuse municipal wastewater).
Obstacles to funding
The funding is the result of a competitive process like all RTD projects funded by the EU. The AQUACYCLE partnership submitted a project proposal for standard projects under the 2014-2020 ENI CBC MED programme on the thematic “Water Efficiency”. In case of failure, the development of APOC technology would have delayed, due to lack of funding.
How your Best Practice is economically feasible ?
The BP is a self-sustained system since the connection to the grid is not necessary. The necessary energy required is produced by Renewable Energy Sources, including solar (via photovoltaic panels) and biogas, generated by the anaerobic digestion of the organic content of the municipal wastewater. APOC can be implemented using local skills and know-how to provide context-specific sanitation services and get optimum efficiency of the system. Moreover, it can provide a solid byproduct (anaerobic solid digestate) that can be used for land fertilization while APOC treated effluent can be used for urban, industrial, agricultural uses and groundwater recharge.Result of this assessment
A cost benefit analysis will be performed during the next year that will identify the return on investment taking into account the capital, variable (operational), and fixed costs, as well as the environmental benefits.Enviromental impact
SDGs
Validation/upscaling
APOC technology is currently validated at demonstration level in operational environment (TRL7) (APOC demo plant of 5 m3/d treatment capacity in Blanca Wastewater Treatment Plant, Murcia, Spain),…
Potentiel of exploitation/outscaling
Yes, the capitalization plan of AQUACYCLE project coupled with the many outreach activities (participation in international fora/exhibitions, networking with similar projects and organizations) aim…
Lessons learnt
APOC can be designed for a single objective, which then would be just to treat water, or with multiple objectives, whereby treating water is always included. Engineers should seek however, multi-…
Highlighted KPI
Technical indicators
Average Treated flow rate
m3/Day
Salinity1750 g/Day
Suspended solids SS1750 g/Day
COD3575 g/Day
Economical indicators
Average total Cost
euro/m3 terated/day
Without consideration of the depreciation period
Average Total Cost
0.00
euro/p.e
Land footprint
50.00
m2/m3/day
Land footprint
1750.00
m2/p.e
Social impact of the BP
Jobs created comment: Within AQUACYCLE project, in the context of which the APOC system has been developed and demonstrated, more than 40 jobs have been created by the collaborating partners in five countries (Greece, Malta, Spain, Tunisia, Lebanon).