The Mediterranean library of knowledge
Explore the ENI CBC Med Programme's library of deliverables: a comprehensive digital repository of diverse resources tailored for the Mediterranean region. Discover in-depth studies, innovative strategies, and practical tools spanning tools addressing key environmental, economic, and social issues. The library is your go-to source to find valuable knowledge to inspire new collaborative projects driving fair, sustainable and inclusive development across the Mediterranean.
AQUACYCLE Technical guide on project's eco-innovative wastewater treatment system
This technical guide has been designed to provide guidance to staff of public and private entities needing info on the project’s eco-innovative wastewater treatment system (abbreviated to APOC system) design, operation and maintenance.
The acronym APOC stands for “Anaerobic digestion”, “Photocatalytic Oxidation” and “Constructed wetland”, the three components of the eco-innovative wastewater treatment system promoted by the AQUACYCLE project. Anaerobic treatment and constructed wetlands are two mature and commercialized technologies with wide applications in the wastewater treatment market, that are combined with a novel solar disinfection/photocatalytic oxidation process towards the treatment of municipal wastewater at a level that satisfies the most stringent standards for reuse. The distinctive features of APOC technology make it eco-friendly, efficient and cost-effective as it is based on natural systems, it uses less chemicals, runs on renewable energy (solar irradiation), produces biogas, fertiliser and a clean water for reuse in agriculture, in domestic, industrial or other applications, and the constructed wetland thrives as a habitant, an ecological tourist attraction aside from being a climate change mitigation measure.
This guide has been prepared by a cross-border multidisciplinary scientific interaction. Specifically, AQUACYCLE partners which hold expertise in the three different components of the APOC system have provided the necessary technical information and data sheets for the scope of this manual.
AQUACYCLE Pilot Demonstration Units of an Eco-Innovative Wastewater Treatment System
Three pilot demonstration units of AQUACYCLE’s low-cost, eco-innovative wastewater treatment system, abbreviated to APOC system, have been constructed at the following locations: 1) a site owned by the real estate company SANABEL in Deddeh, south of Tripoli in North Lebanon; (2) at the existing anaerobic wastewater treatment facility of Blanca in the Murcia Region of Spain; and (3) at the existing wastewater treatment facility of Bent Saidane in the Zaghouan Governorate of Tunisia. The three sites have in common that they represent small to medium sized communities whose livelihoods depend primarily on agriculture.
The present Output explains the entire construction process from contract award to commissioning, including plant performance. The details of the construction are presented to provide the next developers of other APOC facilities with a visual guide to help them replicate the APOC eco-innovative system for municipal wastewater treatment and reuse in small to medium-size communities.
This activity has been split into three parts, one for each demo site, as there are differences between the designs. It will enrich knowledge even more as it can help to compare the different variants of APOC systems.
Innovative Constructed Wetlands in Carrion de los Céspedes (Andalusia)
In order to increase treated waste water quality to be reused in agriculture, thus tackling more and more frequent periods of drought, in the experimental Waste Water Treatment plant of AMAYA, in Carrion de los Céspedes (Spain) a low-cost treatment train composed by Constructed Wetlands (including different types, working configurations and innovative systems) has been implement. The documents report the technical description of pre and post treatments and the assessment of their efficiency.
Pre and post treatments implemented in the Waste Water Treatment Plants of Tunisia, Palestine and Jordan
One of the aims of the MENAWARA project was to increase treated waste water quality to be used in agriculture, based on Non-Conventional Water supply technologies and practices already existing in the intervention areas and technical and sociopolitical constraints (efficiency of plants, acceptance by local communities and banning of some irrigation techniques by governments). In these documents, pre and post treatments implemented in the Waste Water Treatment Plants in the intervention areas of Tunisia, Palestine and Jordan are described and their efficiency assessed.
Forested Infiltration Area (FIA) System
The FIA technique was identified by NRD-UNISS’ researchers as a Nature Based Solution potentially useful for mitigating the nitrate groundwater pollution in the Arborea plain, in Sardinia (ITALY). Easy to implement even over large spatial scales, the FIA technique also offers a series of supplementary ecosystem services, such as the increase in biodiversity, carbon sequestration and environmental recovery, thus increasing the potentiality of replication of the technique also in contexts outside the Arborea area. The documents details the technical aspects of the Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) system through the FIA technique implemented and related achieved results.