PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Environmental contamination by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and heavy metals represents a serious risk for the sustainable provision of ecosystem goods and services and for human health. The European Environment Agency estimates that the EU is home to more than 2.5 million potentially contaminated industrial sites requiring reclamation interventions. The Bagnoli industrial site, which is located in Naples and has been inactive since 1990, is one of the most polluted coastal areas in Italy and has been included in the country’s list of polluted sites of national interest. The site was home to steel manufacturing, asbestos processing, and fertiliser and concrete production. As a result, its overall chemical contamination largely exceeds the thresholds established for marine sediments under Italian and European law. The high levels also have detrimental biological and ecological consequences that threaten its good environmental status, which is obliged under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Environmental Quality Standard Directive. Moreover, the polluted site has a particularly high impact on human health and socio-economic development, since it is located in the peri-urban area of the city of Naples and on the coast, posing a risk to mussel cultivations and fishery activities.
Conventional remediation of marine sediments in disused industrial sites (e.g. mechanical dredging) can be very costly and often causes significant environmental damage. Also, the management of dredged contaminated sediments is problematic, as it is mainly based on landfill and confined aquatic disposal. Bio-remediation, on the other hand, is an environmentally friendly strategy that is gaining increasing attention for its potential to clean up contaminated marine sediments. However, despite improved knowledge on bio-remediation and the availability of several patents, the in situ application of this technology for the reclamation of contaminated marine sediments is still in its early stages.
OBJECTIVES
LIFE SEDREMED aims to demonstrate the efficiency of an innovative in situ remediation methodology for the decontamination of heavily polluted coastal sediments, bringing it to TRL8 by project end. The methodology will adapt and combine two existing technologies that are currently commercialised at TRL9 for applications such as soil/groundwater remediation and reduction of organic matter in sediments: electro-kinetic system (EKO) and biofixed microorganisms (IDRA).
Specifically, the project aims to:
- Develop and install a prototype, by adapting, integrating and optimising the two technologies (IDRA and EKO), designing the most efficient bio-remediation strategy, applying it on an area of 2 ha, and remediating a volume of around 40 000 m3 of contaminated marine sediments;
- Complement the solution by an innovative monitoring methodology to investigate the efficiency of the remediation technologies and the related impact on local biodiversity;
- Develop a detailed transfer manual and business plan to promote the methodology’s replication and close-to-market uptake in other contaminated coastal areas around Europe; and
- Create and operate a Mediterranean Remediation Knowledge and Innovation hub (MEDREHUB) to foster environmental bioremediation technologies.
The project will ensure that the marine sediments in the pilot areas comply with the requirements of the Water Framework Directive, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Environmental Quality Standard Directive.
RESULTS
Expected results:
- Remediation (i.e. reduction of dangerous substances and improved water quality) of an area of 2 ha for a total of 40 000 m3 of contaminated sediments;
- Remediation of 60-80% expected for naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthrene, acenaphthene, fluorene; 40-60% for pirene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(a)pirene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, indenopirene, benzo(g,h,i)perilene, benzo(e)pirene; 70% for PCBs; and 60% for PCDDs;
- Immobilisation of metals with fixation rates of up to 80% for Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb and V, and 50% for As, Al, Cu, Fe, Hg and Zn;
- Improvement of ecosystem services in the site, linked to the enhanced environmental status of the area;
- Reduction in the consumption of raw materials and energy and in the generation of waste, by providing competent authorities with a methodology to avoid mechanical dredging interventions;
- Reduction of costs for sediment decontamination from €150/m3 (dredging and ex situ treatment) to €25/m3 (in situ remediation); and
- Replication of the developed strategy in the surrounding contaminated areas of Bagnoli first and then, within five years after the project end, in an additional Italian site and a site elsewhere in Europe.
