Sustainable wastewater treatment

Researchers from Greece, Finland and Sweden are working together to drive innovation in treating industrial wastewater. They assessed how olive farmers could adopt low-cost, energy-efficient technologies to reduce environmental impacts.

Research in smaller economies relies on developing expertise in niche areas and using networking to boost resources. Three regional research clusters from western Greece, Finland (Päijät-Häme) and Sweden (Kalmar) have adopted this mindset, focusing on clean technologies.Partners from Italy and England worked as experts in Mediterranean waste and in communication respectively.

They collaborated on the EU-funded research project 'Sustainable innovations and treatment in industrial waste water clusters' (STINNO). Researchers will investigate options for the sustainable and cost-efficient treatment of industrial wastewaters. The team used the olive-milling sector as a case study. Wastewater from this sector has a high organic load and contains considerable amounts of phytotoxic polyphenols, which have a large impact in the Mediterranean. The problem is exacerbated because the wastewater arises in huge volumes over a short period after the harvest. The mainly small-scale farmers operating in olive oil production cannot afford to invest in costly technologies to resolve matters.

Despite considerable efforts to address the sector's environmental impacts over the last decade, a comprehensive solution has yet to be found. The partners from Finland and Sweden have considerable expertise in wastewater treatment technologies but were unaware of the magnitude of the problem in southern Europe.

By adopting a joint approach, the project partners were able to produce a comprehensive analysis of the available techniques to address the olive oil wastewater treatment problem. Research revealed that green solutions adopted would depend on the olive mill environments and the social, economic and agricultural constraints.

Their work has proposed a number of innovative solutions to this lingering problem. STINNO outcomes will strengthen the research potential of the participating regional research clusters to become leaders in industrial wastewater treatment.

Related link:
http://cordis.europa.eu