Website: https://www.irsa.cnr.it
IRSA-CNR is involved in WP1 “Sustainable and nature based solutions as applied innovative technologies” and it is responsible of T1.3: Decontamination to investigate and optimize the performance of an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor operated with granular biomass for treating the urban wastewater. This device is characterized by high biomass concentration able to guarantee process kinetics competitive with the conventional aerobic process, even at moderate climate condition. Effective removal of organic load can be achieved with a low footprint, being the settling phase included in the same reactor tank. In response to this specific call, focused on agricultural water reuse, it is worth noting that nutrient conservation (nitrogen and phosphorus) in the anaerobically treated wastewater turns out to be an additional advantage of the anaerobic processes (in respect to the aerobic one) when the effluent is utilized for agricultural irrigation. IRSA-CNR is also involved in WP4 Technological transfer in field scale for technical-economic evaluation of WWTP pilot installation in Morocco.
Key personnel involved
Maria Concetta Tomei
Chemical Engineer, M. Concetta Tomei is Research Director at IRSA-CNR. Main field of her research activity is “wastewater treatment” involving both theoretical and application issues. She actively worked on modelling of biological processes for the design and management of Wastewater Treatment Plants and on the development of innovative technologies. Research on the anaerobic processes has been focused on modelling and process control and to be mentioned is the setting up of the RANTOX (Rapid ANaerobic load and TOXicity tester) biosensor for rapid detection of overloads and/or toxic compounds. At present, research activity focuses on innovative technologies for the removal of xenobiotics from industrial wastewater and of sustainable technologies for urban wastewater treatment. Successful results to be mentioned are the application of Two-Phase Partitioning Bioreactors (TPPBs) to the removal of toxic compounds. She has been scientific chair of international and national and projects and authored more than 200 publications including papers on peer reviewed scientific journals, book chapters and conference proceedings.
Domenica Mosca Angelucci
PhD in Chemical and Process Engineering, researcher at IRSA-CNR. Her research interests cover wastewater treatment and bioremediation. Main topics investigated and under investigation include the application of advanced technologies for biological removal of xenobiotics from municipal and industrial wastewater and polluted soils, and sequential anaerobic-aerobic digestion applied to sewage sludge stabilization. Recently, she oriented her research activity to the study of uptake/release processes of organic contaminants by microplastics. She authored more than 50 publications including papers on peer reviewed scientific journals, book chapters and conference proceedings.