Mission

Main research areas

• Wastewater treatment: removal of contaminants, recovery of resources and production of clean effluents;

• Wastes Stream Valorisation;

• Biopolymer production.

Equipments

The pilot plant is equipped for aerobic and anaerobic biological processes and allows operation in batch, fed-batch, sequencing batch, and continuous modes. Below is a summary of the main equipment available:

• Anaerobic stirred reactor with up to 150 L operating volume, equipped with heating and stirring systems;

• Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors with up to 100 L operating volume each;

• Aerobic reactors with operating volumes up to 200 L, equipped with aeration and stirring systems;

• Dedicated ventilated systems for each reactor;

• Feeding and buffer tanks with capacities ranging from 200 L to 500 L;

• Feeding, recirculation, and dosing pumps;

• pH control systems, gas and liquid flowmeters, level controllers, and online sensors for process monitoring;

• Centralized control and data acquisition system with dedicated computers, control hardware, and software;

• CEPA® Z 41 high-speed tubular centrifuge for bioproduct recovery;

• Laboratory equipment for analysis and downstream processing, including oven, scales, freeze-dryers, and all necessary instruments for sample characterization and bioproduct analysis;

• Utilities including air compressor for aeration and antifoam systems, water baths, a full fume hood, uninterruptible power supply (UPS, ITYS PROv 10–20 kVA), a cold chamber for large-volume sample storage, and ventilated cabinets for reagents.