CATAD 3D

Wastewater treatment is a crucial challenge in order to ensure the development and sustainability of the worldwide society, both from environmental and public health point of view. During the conventional aerobic or anaerobic biological treatments, usually implemented in the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), large quantities of toxic and highly heterogeneous sludge are generated; so, an economical and eco-friendly solution for the management of these solids is a major environmental problem of emerging concern. In this sense, the conventional disposal of sludge involves high costs, associated to high energy requirements linked to incineration processes. Thus, the estimated costs of the incineration of the dry fraction range from 40 to 60% of the total operating costs of a conventional WWTP. In Spain, more than 1.2 million tonnes (in dry matter) are generated and it is estimated that this amount will exceed 13 million tonnes per year in Europe at the end of this year.

In this context, one of the main Objectives of Sustainable Development (ODS) in the framework of the United Nations is focused on the improvement of the efficiency in the use and quality of water resources from a health and environmental point of view, pointing out to the detection and removal of emerging micro-pollutants, as well as a more efficient management of the generated sewage sludge.

CATAD3.0 project falls within this framework; the main objective of this proposal is the application of fixed-bed catalytic oxidation and adsorption processes using 3D-structured carbon materials synthesized from urban and industrial WWTPs sludge, obtaining the more suitable structural, textural and chemical-surface properties for the efficient removal of substances listed in the two last EU Decisions (wide-monitoring Watch Lists): neocotinoid pesticides (NEO), such as Acetamiprid (ACT), Clotianidine (CTA), Imidacloprid (IMD), Thiamethoxam (THM), and Thiacloprid (TAC), and cytostatic drugs (CIT), e.g., 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), Cyclophosphamide (CYC), Ifosfamide (IFO), Methotrexate (MTX), and Tamoxifen (TAM). The removal of these compounds will be studied using model solutions at very low concentrations range, µg/L or ng/L, similar to those found in wastewater effluents; then, the treatment of real environmentally-relevant matrices, e.g., agrochemical, pharmaceutical and hospital, will be approached. Subsequently, the operation parameters in continuous adsorption and catalytic processes will be optimized; therefore, the experimental data will be modelled in order to determine the dominant mass transfer parameters, allowing the scale-up of the lab processes to a wastewater treatment real scenario.