Istituto di Ricerca Sulle Acque (IRSA)Water Research Institute

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR)National Research Council of Italy

M I L A N O R O M A B A R I

Alfieri POLLICE, PhD

< alfieri.pollice@cnr.it >

What we do

ROMAHead office,

Central administration,Lab. of microbiology

BARIDept. of water chemistry

and technology

MILANODept. of applied

hydrobiology

• Water, wastewater,and sludge treatments

• Analytical methods• Water resources management

• Planning, services• Water microbiology

• Environmental monitoring• Ecotoxicology (surface and

groundwater)

Main figures(2013)

65 scientists25 technicians10 administratives70 contracts, fellowships, PhDs, etc.

Turnover: 2,8 M€ 2,5 M€ external projects0,3 M€ govt. funding

Human capital: about 170 people

IRSA-Bari (18,000 m2) View of the whole Institute

IRSA-Bari Main building

IRSA-BariLaboratories (1000 m2)

System for Thermal Diagnostic Studies

HPLC/MS

GC/MS

IRSA-BariThe pilot hall

IRSA-Bari Bench scale plants

Wastewater Treatments

General aims of the activities in this area

1. Study and develop new processes for treating:• Municipal wastewater,• Industrial wastewater,• Surface and groundwater,• Wastewater treatment byproducts (sludge, odours, etc.).

2. Testing technologies for water cycle sustainability:• Agricultural effluent reuse,• Groundwater recharge,• Industrial wastewater recycle,• Operational optimization (sludge minimization, energy

savings, etc.)

Strongly ruralRuralModerately ruralUrbanStrongly urban

Rainfall (1960-2010)

Puglia: 600-650 mm/year136 m3/capita per yearabsence of permanent rivers/natural lakes

Cultivated 79%

Irrigated 19%

Other 21%

Land use

Puglia – Available water and land use

Wastewater treatment and effluent reuse

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Agricultural Civil Industrial

Destination

Co

nsu

mp

tion

(Mm

3 /y)

External Resources (border regions)

Regional Resources (groundwater)

Total Regional Water demand

1500 Mm3/y

Municipal wastewater potentially available for reuse in irrigation: • Total estimate 150 Mm3/year• Tertiary wastewater treatment plants currently available 90 Mm3/year

Further advantages:• Nutrient recovery• Continuous supply

Water demand in Puglia

Savings on primary resources = 10%

Piano di Tutela delle Acque della Regione Puglia (2007) / Regional Water Plan of Puglia (2007)

Opportunities of reuse for irrigation in Puglia

Conventional wastewater treatment (activated sludge)

Primarysettling

Pre-treatment

Activatedsludge

Secondarysettling

Rawwaste

Tertiarytreatments

Standards for discharge

Standards for reuseB) polishing

Water body(river/lake/sea)

A) upgrade or

Treated wastewater reuse in irrigation

Primarysettling

Pre-treatment

Activatedsludge

Rawwastewater

A) Upgrade of activated sludge process (Membrane Bioreactors – MBR)

ultra FILTR

DISINF Effluent for irrigation

IRSA demo-scale activities: Surface filtration combined to biological processes

B) Polishing: Tertiary surface filtration processesDISINF

micro FILTR

ultra FILTR

DISINF

From treatment for effluent disposalto water production for irrigation

• Study of processes based on low pressure surface filtration for the production of water suitable for irrigation, study of microbiological quality and nutrient conservation.

• IRSA’s main research projects on treated effluent reuse:POM (2000-2002) - national,PON – Aquatec (2002-2006) - national,FP6 – Reclaim Water (2005-2008) – EU,PRIN (2010-2012) - national,PON – Interra (2011-2015) (also agro-industrial ww) - national,FP7 KBBE – Water4Crops (2012-2016) - EU-India,FP7 Inno-Demo – Demoware (2013-2016) - EU.

IRSA activities on surface filtration for wastewater treatment and reuse

Case study 1 (PON Aquatec 2000/2006):Tertiary membrane filtration

Cerignola WWTP50,000 P.E.

Test field2000 m2

Tertiary treatment (membrane) and storage tanks

Pilot plant of 700 L/h

Membrane flux: 30 L/m2/h

Membrane surface: 23,5 m2

WWTPoutlet

WWTPinfluent

2) GDF + UV Secondary effluent

2

1) IFAS-MBR + UVPre-screened wastewater

1

SETTLERS

ACTIVATED SLUDGE

SETTLERS

FILTR.CHLOR.COAG.-

FLOC.-SED.

test

fiel

d

Case study 2 (PON Interra/FP7 Water4Crops 2011/2016):

IFAS-MBR and FDG for direct irrigation

Test field (3000 m2)Horticulture irrigated with treated effluents (including the WWTP outlet) and control (well water)

15mm

15mm

UV disinfection

0.3-0.8 m3/h Storage tanks (30m3)

UV on demand

(*) Integrated Fixed film-Activated Sludge Membrane BioReactor

Treated wastewater reuse in irrigation: PILOT PLANTIFAS-MBR(*) with on-demand UV disinfection

Test field

GDF – Cloth filtration (polyester), pores of 20µm

Open channel UV-C disinfection

n. 6 lamps(Hg vapor)

25m3/h

Treated wastewater reuse in irrigation: PILOT PLANTGravity Disk Filter (GDF) with on-demand UV disinfection

UV on demand

Test fieldIN = secondary

effluent

Case study 3 (PON Interra/FP7 Demoware 2011/2016):Recycle of agro-industrial wastewater for irrigation

discharge

+ tertiarytreatment

irrigation

WWTPWW

• 12-15 mc/h• Quality/quantity

fluctuations• Tertiary treatment• Sand filtration• Membrane filtration• UV on-demand

Case study 4:Full scale tertiary treatment of municipal wastewater

for direct reuse at Fasano (BR) - (Aquasoil s.r.l.)

Tertiary treatment plant (8000 m3/d);

Treated wastewater to 48 users (about 600 hectares).

30 km water distribution network;

MBR

TEST FIELD irrigated with treated wastewater (MBR effluent) + E. coli

Persistence of E. coli in surface soil and on grass ?

E. coli (and NO3) transfer through soil layers… possibly to groundwter ?

Soil columns irrigated with partially treated real wastewater

Case study 5 (PRIN 2010-2012):Fate of E. Coli in irrigation with treated wastewater

Pilot scale MBRQ=15 L/hSRT=25 days; HRT=6 hProd./Relax=3h/6min

Vergine P. et al. (2015) - Fate of the fecal indicator Escherichia coli in irrigation with partially treated wastewater. Water Research, 85, 66-73.

Nylon net (pores of 20-50 µm)

The “cake” (self-forming) is the actual filtering material

• Are synthetic membranes the best material for wastewater treatment ?• Are there less expensive materials that may provide effluent quality

suitable for reuse ?• Can we use the ’’cake’’ (biological sludge layer) as a filtration tool ?

Industrial and municipal wastewater treatment:NOVEL BIOPROCESS Self-forming Dynamic MBR

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION

alfieri.pollice@cnr.it