Sixth framework programme

Ethical issues

The consortium partners confirm that no ethical issues are addressed in this project proposal. In general, the consortium agrees to comply with any regulations or levels of legislation regarding ethically sensitive issue if and/or when applicable.

Appendix A - Consortium description

A.1 Participants and consortium
The EUROMBRA consortium consists of scientists and researchers with a broad and long experience in the main areas of importance for the project. The core group behind this proposal represents 13 research groups currently working on the development of membrane bioreactor processes for advanced treatment of water and wastewater. It comprises 9 major European research institutions with approximately 100 directly involved researchers. Furthermore it includes leading, active research groups within the same topic in two non European countries, South Africa and Australia. There are 4 European SMEs participating in the consortium and 2 end-users contributing to the project. The consortium is constructed to secure the necessary professional support to reach the project objectives.
This group has demonstrated competence and internationally-recognized expertise in:

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  membrane bioreactor technologies,
  
• 
  membrane preparation and membrane processes,
  
• 
  process engineering,
  
• 
  water and wastewater treatment processes, modelling, simulation, and control,
  
• 
  water quality issues in drinking water sources (surface and groundwater) and receiving waters,
  
• 
  advanced treatment options and technologies,
  
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  process monitoring (both physical and biological parameters),
  
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  systems analysis and control engineering,
  
• 
  environmental science and water resources engineering, and
  
• 
  water conservation.
  

A general description of the respective partners contributing to this project is provided below.

NTNU:

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) is the only Norwegian institution for comprehensive higher technical education. The Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineer­ing has an extensive research activity regarding water and wastewater and a long experience as a partner in international projects, including EU projects (CARE-W and CARE-S). The water and wastewater research group has extensive experience in developing biofilm processes, combining biological and chemical treatment and designing small, compact, efficient treatment plants. Membrane technology applied to water and wastewater treatment is a primary activity of the water and wastewater treatment research group. In particular, development of low pressure submerged membrane reactors and combining membrane technology with biofilm processes. An internationally appointed committee has recently undertaken an evaluation of research groups in Norway for the Norwegian Research Council where the department received a ranking of excellent.

CU:

The School of Water Sciences, CU in the U.K. conducts research in a number of key areas relating to water and wastewater treatment, including physical, chemical and biological processes for removal of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus, suspended solids, and disinfection. Research into membrane technology in general and membrane bioreactors in particular has been ongoing for 10 years, with three major UK research council awards having been received by the School along with 12 other doctorate research project. CU also coordinates MAIN the UK Membrane Academia Industry Network, as well as three other networks in odour, potable water treatment and water quality monitoring. The group are currently involved in five other EU projects (AQUAREC, TRIGRESS, AQUADAPT, ARID and MEDITATE), with three others due to begin within the next three months.

RWTH:

The Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule Aachen (RWTH) is one of the largest and most awarded technical universities in Germany. There are 260 Departments at RWTH, the number of students is around 30,000 and about 10,000 staff members. The Department of Chemical Engineering (Institut für Verfahrenstechnik –IVT) is presently coordinating the AQUAREC-project (EVK1-CT-2002-00130) on “Integrated Concepts of Reuse of Upgraded Wastewater” (www.aquarec.org). This project is complementary to the proposed project and aims to provide the basis for best practice in wastewater reuse in Europe. The IVT has played a leading role in propagating membrane technology in Germany through research, publications and teaching. Currently twelve PhD-students work on membrane technology in publicly funded projects and in cooperative research with membrane + module manufacturers and users in industry. IVT has just successfully completed another two EC-projects on pervaporation with inorganic membranes (JOE3-CT97-0074) and (ENK6-CT-1999-0001). IVT has been successful in two recent FP6 applications: The AQUABASE proposal (MEST-CT-2004-505169) on organic micropollutants in the aquatic environment has prevailed in an extremely competitive bid (about 55 out of 750 proposals selected) on Early Stage Research Training Sites in the Marie Curie Programme and is member of the consortium in an Integrated Project which has been approved in the water stress area (AQUASTRESS).

IBET:

Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica (IBET) is a private non-profit R&D institute devoted to research and postgraduate studies in the fields of Environmental Technologies, Biotechnology and Food Processing. Relevant areas of expertise include membrane processes for water and wastewater treatment, process monitoring, microbial physiology and population dynamics. IBET operates an integrated bioconversion, extraction and purification pilot plant. Contribution to the current project will be made by the “Laboratory of Membrane Processes” and the “Laboratory of Microbiology of Man-made of Environment”. These groups have a vast experience on the integration of membrane processes with bioconversions, especially for the removal and degradation of toxic substances from contaminated water streams, namely using selective membrane bioreactors. IBET has been also involved on the development of on-line monitoring of biological processes based on pattern recognition approaches, namely by 2D-fluorometry and confocal microscopy.

INSA, Toulouse:

INSA Toulouse (National Institute for Applied Sciences) is an engineering school that is placed under the responsibility of the Ministry of Higher Education. The Environmental Process Engineering Laboratory (LIPE) is a research centre which focuses on the application of the concepts of bio and chemical engineering to the environmental sphere, in particular for water treatment and purification (industrial water, wastewater, and drinking water production), gas emissions and certain solid wastes (sludges or polluted soil). Two main scientific topics are under investigation: separation processes and biological/chemical reaction engineering. The research group has a large experience in membrane processes (immersed and side-stream membrane bioreactors, module design, fouling characterization, air-sparging in membranes, hybrid processes) applied to water treatment and in biochemical processes for waste water treatment (bioreactors and bioengineering, characterization of biological fluids and biokinetics).

During the last 25 years, LIPE contributed to the development of innovative technologies in the field of environmental engineering through a network with industrial partners. It manages a portfolio of 30 patents used under licence by industrial companies.
UM II:

The Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Bioproduct Elaboration LGEB is a part of the Polytechnical Engineering School of Montpellier (University of Montpellier II). A large part of our laboratory activity is oriented on the study of unitary or associated operations applied to water and wastewater treatment (physical separation steps associated or not with biological or chemical reactions). Our objectives are to identify determining mechanisms, steps and parameters that further the system control in defined operational conditions. Nowadays our activity is focused on membrane processes for water clarification and desalination but a large part is devoted to membrane bioreactors. Our research activity is associated with teaching task inside the Water Sciences and Engineering Department of the Polytechnical Engineering School of Montpellier (EPUM). This department (Master level) is associated with different European Universities through European programs (ERASMUS…), it covers teaching and research in water resource management, Engineering School of Montpellier. The keywords of the formation are Process engineering, Hydraulics, Hydrology, Hydrogeology and Hydrobiology.

DUT:

Delft University of Technology (DUT) is the largest university for engineering sciences in The Netherlands. The faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences has a unique position in education and research in The Netherlands. Within this faculty, the Department of Sanitary Engineering covers research in water, wastewater collection and treatment. Fields of specialization are advanced treatment, membrane processes and integrated systems. The department has its own laboratory facilities and also works in close cooperation with external parties and water boards for pilot investigations.

DUT is also a member of the AQUAREC-consortium, supported by the European Commission under the Fifth Framework Programme (EVK1-CT-2002-00130) which deals with integrated concepts for reuse of upgraded wastewater. For more information see: www.aquarec.org
EAWAG:

EAWAG is a federal research institute in Switzerland and is actively involved in teaching at the Swiss Federal University of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ). Several professors have their research activities located at EAWAG. The institute is specialised in current and future aspects of urban and agricultural water management and water pollution control. Its aim is to develop interdisciplinary oriented sustainable concepts and technologies pertaining to the water and nutrient cycle. Projects are carried out in close collaboration with governmental and private stakeholders (e.g. federal and county environmental protection agencies, professional associations, wastewater treatment plants, drinking water suppliers and water industry). The consulting services provided by EAWAG focus on Swiss and international water management problems and technologies for pollution control.

UNITN:

The Laboratory of Sanitary Engineering (LISA) of the Università degli Studi di Trento is a part of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DICA). The research activity of LISA is mainly focused on water, wastewater and solid waste treatment. Main topics of wastewater research group are: application of innovative technologies (membrane bioreactors, moving bed biofilm reactors, submerged biofilters, nitrogen removal by alternate aeration processes) to both industrial and civil wastewater, reduction of sludge production by means of sonication and alkaline thermolysis of activated sludge, wastewater and biomass characterisation through respirometry, assessment of biomass viability and diversity with flow cytometry and in-situ fluorescence hybridisation. LISA has a long time experience on laboratory scale, large pilot scale and full scale wastewater treatment plants.

Polymem:

POLYMEM S.A. started in business in 1997. POLYMEM is specialised in the development and the manufacturing of membranes based upon hollow fibres. POLYMEM develops and manufactures also equipments based upon membrane filtration. The main application field targeted by POLYMEM is the water and wastewater treatments. POLYMEM is trading with Spain, Belgium, Italy, Norway and Switzerland.

At the present time, 15 person are employed by POLYMEM, achieving a turnover around 1.4 million of Euros.

In the next future, POLYMEM will consider 4 sectors:

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  the residential sector: Membranes and equipments for household wastewater and drinking water.
  
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  the industrial sector.
  
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  the commercial sector: Wastewater treatment for small communities, Non Governmental Organisation.
  
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  the municipal sector (which is the main development axe of POLYMEM).
  

POLYMEM sells its products to the most important actor on the wastewater market: Véolia, Ondéo, Saur, but also SMEs.


KMS:

KOCH Membrane Systems GmbH (previously PURON AG) is a rapidly growing enterprise active in the field of membrane technology for water and wastewater treatment applications. The company was formed as a spin-off from the RWTH Aachen University in 2001. KMS produces capillary hollow fibre membranes and submerged modules. The company is also active in process design and technology implementation. The first plant with KMS membranes went into operation in April 2003 for municipal wastewater treatment. The company has 14 employees at the moment and is very active in research and development, with involvement in several nationally funded projects. The company intends to grow into the international market and widen their product range into applications with specific adoption to developing countries.

FlowConcept:

FlowConcept GmbH is a service provider dealing with projects in the field of waste water treatment and water management. Equipment providers, planners, operators, and companies for plant construction will be given consultation regarding the operation of their systems on the basis of high-resolution computer simulations (CFD-modelling) with a view to procedural optimum and energy efficiency. Dr. Hunze, manager of FlowConcept GmbH, has been working since 1992 in the field of 3-dimensional modelling of processes within wastewater treatment plants as well as water management systems. In addition to her research work in this application field at Hannover University (PhD-thesis and habilitation), she has been working for companies as a consultant. This work is now continued by FlowConcept. As a result from Mrs. Hunze’s career as well as the integration of FlowConcept in research projects of partner companies the FlowConcept is characterized by an innovative and always practice relevant work.

MILL:

Millenniumpore Ltd. is small membrane manufacturer and systems supplier based in the North East of England. The company produces unique, wide-bore hydrophilicised polyether sulphone (PES) hollow fibre (HF) micro and ultrafiltration membranes which can be produced on demand in diameters of between 2 and 25 mm. The membranes are a wholly integral and continuous matrix which is highly asymmetric in structure and not cast onto a carrier or support material, as in the case of conventional tubular membranes. The company has manufacturing capability for small plants (up to a few hundred m³/day).

WHD:

Water Authority Hollandse Delta (WHD) is a Water Board, which is responsible for water quantity and water quality in the south region of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. The region has a surface of 85,000 hectares. It is a democratic public organisation. The council of the Water Board is chosen by public elections every 4 years. The number of inhabitants in the region is 825,000. WHD has over 550 employees.

An important task of the Water Board is drainage and pumping water out of the region as the region is below the sea level. Another task in the field of water quantity is sea defence over a distance of 351 km. Another important task is the care for surface water quality, e.g. by research, planning, control activities and permitting.

Another task is the treatment of urban wastewater. For this task the water board owns and operates 23 wastewater treatment plants, approx. 60 sewage pumping stations and approx. 200 km pressure mains. The total treatment capacity amounts to 1.88 million population equivalent.

An important mission of WHD with respect to wastewater treatment is to meet all official demands for effluent quality and for other environmental aspect as noise and smell. WHD wishes to work active on research and the development of new techniques to improve the quality of its task of wastewater treatment, and to be prepared for new effluent demands in the future. The research project with the membrane bioreactor is an example of this attitude

EV:

Literally translated, Erftverband means „Erft River Association“. The association is currently composed of 307 members in the region, including cities, municipalities, regional districts and commercial enterprises. Erftverband was established as a water management association for the River Erft region in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) over 40 years ago. As one of eleven such associations in NRW, it performs integrated water management services. The association provides wastewater treatment for around 0.7 million inhabitants and ca. 0.2 million industrial inhabitant equivalents of the operational region and has an installed treatment capacity of 1.1 million inhabitant equivalents.

The Erftverband conducts business in the following fields:

- wastewater treatment including residual management;

- observation and research on flowing watercourses and groundwater; and

- regulation and maintenance of flowing watercourses,

the latter 2 activities mainly in view of effluent receptivity of the WWTPs.
Members of the Erftverband Association include 43 regional municipalities (the largest being the town of Euskirchen with 60,000 inhabitants) as well as local business and industrial centres. The waste water treatment strategy is based on the regional structure with scattered towns and villages as well as limited natural water flow in the River Erft and the contributing stream network. As a result the waste water treatment concept is decentralized with high treatment standards in accordance with the principle „to discharge as close as possible to fresh water removal points to keep the watercourses flowing“.
The Erftverband plants are of medium and small size. As of the end of the year 2000 and for the treatment capacity of around 60 million m³ p.a., Erftverband operates:

- 50 waste water treatment plants with a total capacity of 1.1 million inhabitant equivalents;

- 35 storm water retention basins located adjacent to the plants;

- 200 external storm water retention and treatment facilities and pumping stations;

- around 80 Connection channel channels with a total length of over 220 km.
Wastewater treatment plants:

The Rödingen MBR plant is an innovative pilot facility providing treatment services for the village of Rödingen and the municipality of Titz. It is connected with 2,100 inhabitants as well as trade and industry. It is not the small size but the advanced membrane filtration technology for biological sludge separation and bacilli absorption which makes the plant outstanding within Erftverband’s treatment plants as and was the first municipal wastewater treatment plant with membrane bioreactor technology in Germany.

- Capacity in p.e. (inhabitant equivalents): 3,000: Total waste water intake per year: 0.15 million m³
The Nordkanal plant in the town of Kaarst employs membrane bioreactor technology with a capacity of 80.000 p.e. It purifies the wastewater of three towns west of Düsseldorf. After two years of construction it went into operation in 2004 and was funded as a pilot plant for larger scale MBR. Plans for a third MBR plant have been issued near the town of Berheim.

- Capacity in p.e. (inhabitant equivalents): 80,000: Total waste water intake per year: 3.2 million m³

- Capacity in p.e. (inhabitant equivalents): 9,000: Total waste water intake per year: 0.9 million m³

UNESCO-IHE:

The mission of IHE is to contribute to the education and training of professionals and to build the capacity of sector organisation, knowledge centres and other institutions active in the fields of water, environment and infrastructure, in developing countries and countries in transition. The Institute associates with partners to do research in the context of integrated water resources management and aims at global dissemination and knowledge sharing.

IHE is dedicated to scientific research, postgraduate education and training in the fields of water, the environment and infrastructure. The Institute is a globally active "partner in action" in the developing countries, through solution-oriented research, education and capacity building operations. IHE determines education, training and research demands through its international network of: 12,000 alumni in more than 120 countries, the Institute's community of partnerships, including public and private organisations active in water sectors worldwide, interactions with international agencies, ‘sandwich’ research projects, collaborative research projects and consultancy work. Together, representing an extensive network of international water professionals of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
IHE Delft was established in 1957 and is located in Delft, The Netherlands. In November 2001, UNESCO's General Assembly declared the existing IHE Delft to be established as the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education. Within UNESCO's mandate, the new Institute shall strengthen and mobilise the global educational and knowledge base for integrated water management and contribute to meeting the water-related capacity building needs of the development community. IHE has an experienced team of professionals covering all aspects of water (total permanent staff 160 of which 80 are academic).

Core activities of IHE includes (i) postgraduate Programmes (Masters and PhD level courses on water, the environment and physical infrastructure), (ii) Tailor-made Training Courses, (iii) Institutional Capacity Building, (iv) advisory services, (v) conducting research relevant to development, (vi) contributing to several international and national policy discussions on strategies for water and environmental management, sharing international water resources and urban infrastructure management.

A.2 Sub-contracting

No sub-contracting will be applied in this project

A.3 Third parties

The consortium has been strengthened by including partners based outside of the EU Member and Associated states, from Australia and South Africa in particular. Both partners have long experience in participating in international research cooperation projects and have collaborated closely with several of the project partners from the EU. Both countries have S&T cooperation agreements with the EU, and are amongst the leading research groups within the area of wastewater treatment in their regions. They are also pioneers in the research and development with respect to integrating membrane technology in the field of environmental engineering. The knowledge and experience offered by the partners is an asset to the project consortium.

UTS:

The Environmental Engineering Research Group of University of Technology, Sydney has extensive research experience on water and wastewater treatment and reuse technologies. This group has a strong link with industries and a number of overseas universities and research laboratories in Europe, Canada, Korea and Japan. The Environmental Engineering Research Group has extensive experience in developing membrane hybrid systems combining biological and physico-chemical processes and designing treatment systems for small communities. In particular, our Environmental Engineering Research Group is actively working on the development of low pressure submerged membrane - adsorption hybrid system with advanced automation control.

The UTS contribution to the project represents a novel approach to potentially improving MBR performance under certain operating conditions and may also be an alternative to reduce the impact of peak loads of organic compounds. Their contribution is therefore an added benefit for the project.
Under the S&T agreement between Australia and the EU Commission there are provisions for Australian partners to solicit funds from the Australian government to cover their activities as partners in EU projects. This has been undertaken by UTS and an application for funding has been submitted to the Australian Department of Education Science and Training (DEST) for financial support. Financial support for UTS is therefore not requested in this application. Budgets and input from UTS have been included in the overviews to identify the extent and integration of their contribution to the project.

A.4 Funding of third country participants

The consortium has been strengthened by including a partner based in Africa to accommodate the challenges related to developing countries. Inclusion of developing country partners introduces the dimension of wastewater treatment in other parts of the world (climate, cultural, historical aspects) and challenges related to problems in such areas thereby strengthening the global vision of the consortium and providing specific regional perspectives which will enhance skills and technology transfer. The participation of the South African partner is depend on acquiring funds as the basis for such support locally is difficult and limited. The participation of UKZN is therefore foreseen as being covered by the request of funds in this project.

UKZN:

The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) is a multi-cultural tertiary institution, serving more than 40 000 students, about 80% of whom are non-white, and about 8 500 staff. The University was created in January 2004, from the merger of the University of Natal with the University of Durban-Westville, creating the largest contact university in South Africa.

The breadth, depth and quality of water-related skills has led to water having been designated a Strategic Initiative of the University of Natal, one of five such initiatives receiving support from the Research Office.
The Pollution Research Group is a professional contract research group within the School of Chemical Engineering. It was formed in 1972 and currently comprises of 6 project leaders, 8 PhD students and 20 masters students. It has projects on biological membrane processes, biological wastewater treatment and the provision water and sanitation to the poor. Through its cooperation with the local authority (eThekwini Municipality – City of Durban) it has water and sanitation projects in the surrounding periurban and rural areas and at wastewater treatment plants. In conjunction with Umgeni Water it conducts research at a dedicated process evaluation facility at a nearby water treatment works. It is considered as a Centre of Expertise by the South African Water Research Commission, it is a UNESCO centre and is a partner with eThekwini Municipality in the CIFAL Durban Training Centre (an initiative from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, UNITAR, for training senior officials from local government).
The Pollution Research Group was a partner in the EC INTEGRATEX (Integrated advanced membrane technologies for recycling textile wastewater reducing ecotoxicological risks) project and a Thermie type B project (EC Directorate-General for Energy, contract No. DIS/1779/98-GB) entitled Energy savings and waste minimisation in South Africa.

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