The WalNUT project consortium met on 27 and 28 September at the facilities of CARTIF for its regular M24 meeting. During the meeting, the partners had the opportunity to meet in person for the first time to further discuss issues related to nutrient recovery.
The aim of this project was to share the state of the activities carried out over the two years of activity and to stablish the steps to be taken in the coming months. Representatives from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Ghent University (UGENT), CARTIF and Veolia, among others, presented the evolution of their work packages during the two days of the meeting.
The CARTIF research team was in charge of opening the meeting with the WP9 to discuss coordination and administrative aspects. In addition, he presented the status of WP3 on the demonstration and validation of the pilot at the relevant scale. To add value to the meeting, the consortium made a visit to the centre where they could understand the activities CARTIF is involved in, in addition to the project itself.
The role of the WalNUT project is to address the current gaps in the nutrient cycles of the various European wasterwater treatment systems and associated environmental problems. To achieve this, it aims to investigate the implementation of comprehensive and innovative recovery systems by interlinking three key vectors: the wasterwater treatment industry, crop production and the development of efficient bio-products.
The aim of this proposal is to re-incorporate valuable materials that are currently dissipated from the EU economic model, to implement more sustainable wastewater treatment models to project the environment, and to define a food system that promotes food security. These steps are intended to achieve and develop policies at all levels for the use and marketing of fertilisers, and to promote new EU economic models to ensure the development of competitive biofertilisers.