PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Reactive nitrogen in EU wastewater is degrading sensitive water bodies. The contaminants are largely due to fertiliser run-off from fields. When the nutrients make their way into rivers, they foster weeds that can disrupt aquatic ecosystems. Removing reactive nitrogen in water treatment plants currently requires an energy intensive process that converts the nitrogen back into an inert gas. Recovering it directly would offer a valuable ingredient for creating new nitrogen-based fertilisers. At present, these fertilisers are created mainly using another energy intensive process that turns the inert nitrogen gas into a reactive chemical. Recycling the reactive nitrogen from wastewater could reduce the energy needed to both produce and dispose of fertilisers, cutting greenhouse gas emissions on both ends of their production chain.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE NEWBIES project aimed to demonstrate a novel technique to extract ammonium from wastewater in an economic, effective and energy-efficient way. Researchers would assemble the equipment for this process and prove that it can recover 1 kg of ammonia-nitrogen each day from different kinds of wastewater, including sewage and urine. They would house the pilot system in a transportable container and deploy it to locations where wastewater can be tapped on site. In doing so, the LIFE NEWBIES project would tackle the objectives of the EU Water Framework Directive, the Urban Waste Water Directive and of the circular economy action plan. A life-cycle assessment would also investigate whether the invention matches the costs and environmental credentials of existing nitrogen removal technologies. Project partners would notably chart out the market for recovered nitrogen once transformed into fertiliser for use in agriculture. They would also scout out stakeholders needed for scaling up the technology.
RESULTS
The LIFE NEWBIES project developed a new technique for extracting ammonium from wastewater in an economic, effective and energy-efficient way, while demonstrating that recovered nitrogen can be transformed into a valuable fertiliser. It designed a prototype that fits into a container that can be used in any location. The project team selected three locations for trialling the process, using three types of wastewater: reject water from wastewater treatment plant (digestate), urine and landfill leachate.
However, the expected results were only partly achieved. The prototype was most effective at recovering nitrogen from urine, and the team concluded that fine-tuning the process would enable this waste stream, along with the digestate, to reach the objective of recovering 1 kg of nitrogen per day, but they do not recommend continuing research into the leachate stream. It should also be noted that the pilot testing produced ammonium solutions that are suitable for use in the production of fertilisers.
In comparison to the conventional nitrogen removal and fixation (Sharon anammox + Haber-Bosch), which consume together 14.6 kWh/kg N removed, treatment of urine by NEWBIES requires less energy. The treatment of the other two waste streams shows either comparable or higher energy consumption. The overall objective of recovering nitrogen at a lower cost than current state-of-the-art nitrogen removal technologies was nevertheless not achieved. The main rival technology, Sharon-anammox, has significantly lower operation costs than the NEWBIES technology while overall also a better environmental performance. Technical improvements on the NEWBIES technology are possible, which could decrease its cost, and these will be pursued in a follow-up project (Circulaire-N) focusing on digestate. Special attention will be paid to reducing energy consumption by optimising the design and improving the pre-treatment of the waste stream. The project aims to make the technology commercially viable by 2026.
Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).
