Sustainable and low energey wastewater for warm climates

The main objective of the CELSIUS project is to develop and demonstrate a wastewater
treatment system for warm climate areas characterized by low energy consumption. The
system proposed is the result of the combination of two innovative treatment processes: Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (AnMBR) and Partial Nitrification/Anammox Treatment. The first targets organic matter removal while the second focuses on nitrogen elimination.
The proposed approach involves experimentation with an AnMBR – Partial Nitrification/Anammox pilot plant. This plant will be representative of full-scale conditions and will be suited for treatment of wastewater originated in warm-climate areas with low availability of energetic resources or limited energy accessibility.
To fulfil this objective, the following specific objectives are taken into account:
1. To reduce the energy consumption of organic matter removal through the optimization of a mainstream anaerobic MBR. Compared to the conventional treatment processes, this process is expected to reduce 60% of the energy consumption for the organic matter removal.
2. To reduce the energy consumption of nitrogen removal through the development of
advanced control schemes and appropriate operational strategies for the partial nitrification/anammox process. Compared to the conventional treatment, a reduction of 60% of the energy consumed for nitrogen removal is expected. Given that the specific energy consumption of conventional treatment is around 0.5 kWh/m3 (Rosso et al., 2008), the developed treatment system (including organic matter and nitrogen removal) would entail a specific energy demand saving of 0.3 kWh/ m3.
3. To eliminate the pollution in terms of organic matter and nitrogen from the incoming
wastewater. This will be achieved through the optimization of not only the individual
processes, but also of the system as a whole.
4. To evaluate the feasibility for full-scale application of the optimized system in warm-climate areas such as South America, India, Africa and in European countries in the Mediterranean basin (Spain, Portual, Italy and Greece).
5. To transfer the acquired knowledge to stakeholders by means of specific education and
dissemination strategies and platforms as well as recommendations to policy makers.