Appreciate biodegradable plastic waste through anaerobic co-digestion treatments with sludge from the WWTP (Wastewater Treatment Plant) and in this way obtain a biogas stream (renewable energy) that can be used as an energy vector and as a digestate for agricultural use.
This is the main purpose of project FALL PLAST (Valuation of bioplastics through anaerobic co-digestion in wastewater treatment plants), a strategic project in which a consortium consisting of the Technological Institute of Plastics (AIMPLAS), the CALAGUA group Unidad Mixta UPV-UV (comprising the Institute of Engineering of Water and Environment of the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Valencia) and the companies Global Omnium Medioambiente and Fych Technologies.
The project – financed by the Valencian Institute for Competitiveness and Innovation IVACE +i, within the framework of the European Union Strategic Projects in Collaboration 2023 – aims to implement an alternative in the waste management of biodegradable plastic packaging different from the current one and aligned with the principles of the circular economy.
“The most important innovation of the project is the invention of the bioplastics as a resource that can be valued and transformed into renewable energy”, emphasize the researchers participating in the project.
To do this, the degradation of various plastics will be studied through biological treatment with sludge from an urban wastewater treatment plant under anaerobic conditions, both at laboratory and pilot scale. At the same time, the possible effect of the additives used in the synthesis of plastics (conventional and bioplastics), both in the anaerobic treatment process and in the subsequent quality of the digested sludge, as its main application is agricultural use.
Work will also be carried out on the development and optimization of instrumentation and control systems of the pilot plant, as well as on cost and life cycle analysis, “essential to be able to evaluate the environmental and economic sustainability of the proposed treatment,” emphasize them from the consortium.
Renewable energy from biodegradable plastic waste
After the valuation process, it is also the intention to determine the presence of microplastics in the sludge, which will use the analytical methodology developed by AIMPLAS in the previous MICROPLAST and PREVENPLAST projects, making it possible to measure these emerging contaminants both in the wastewater and in the sludge generated in the treatment plants .
All this will develop a methodology for energy recovery bioplastics in WWTP digesters that will allow better management of this waste as it allows its energy consumption.
Finally, it is also worth highlighting the previous experience that part of this consortium has in the implementation and collaboration of other R&D projects related to the objective of this project, such as AVI MICROPLAST and AVI PREVENPLAST.
VALPLAST project partners
FALL PLAST It will last 28 months and has the collaboration of researchers from the CALAGUA group of the IIAMA-UPV Joaquín Serralta (principal investigator), José Ferrer, Ramón Barat and Daniel Aguado. AIMPLAS is participating in the project through its Microplastics Laboratory led by researcher Juan Francisco Ferrer Crespo.
Likewise, the emerging company Fych Technologies SL also participates in the consortium of companies through its laboratories and the pilot plant in the Alicante Science Park (PCA) under the supervision of doctors and co-founders Andrea Cabanes and Oksana Horodytska, with specialization mainly in the delamination of multi-layer containers, for the deodorization and decontamination of plastics.
The consortium thus forms a multidisciplinary team that deals with the plastics recycling sector, wastewater treatment and the development and application of new knowledge, such as universities and technological centers.