Res Urbis - Resources from urban bio-waste

Starting date
January 1, 2017
Duration (months)
36
Departments
Biotechnology, Management, Law
Managers or local contacts
Bolzonella David
URL
www.resurbis.eu
Keyword
urban bio-waste, biodegradable fraction, municipal solid waste, sewage sludge, wastewater

RES URBIS aims at making it possible to convert several types of urban bio-waste into valuable bio-based products, in an integrated single biowaste biorefinery and by using one main technology chain. This goal will be pursued throug:
- collection and analysis of data on urban bio-waste production and present management systems in four territorial clusters that have been selected in different countries and have different characteristics.
- well-targeted experimental activity to solve a number of open technical issues (both process- and product-related), by using the appropriate combination of innovative and catalogue-proven technologies.
- market analysis whitin several economic scenarios and business models for full exploitation of bio-based products (including a path forward to fill regulatory gaps).
Urban bio-waste include the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (from households, restaurants, caterers and retail premises), excess sludge from urban wastewater treatment, garden and parks waste, selected waste from food-processing (if better recycling options in the food chain are not available), other selected waste streams, i.e. baby nappies.
Bio-based products include polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and related PHA-based bioplastics as well as ancillary productions:
biosolvents (to be used in PHA extraction) and fibers (to be used for PHA biocomposites).
Territorial and economic analyses will be done either considering the ex-novo implementation of the biowaste biorefinery or its integration into existing wastewater treatment or anaerobic digestion plants, with reference to clusters and for different production size. The economic analysis will be based on a portfolio of PHA-based bioplastics, which will be produced at pilot scale and tested for applications:
- Biodegradable commodity film
- Packaging interlayer film
- Specialty durables (such as electronics)
- Premium slow C-release material for ground water remediation
RES URBIS aims at making it possible to convert several types of urban bio-waste into valuable bio-based products, in an integrated single biowaste biorefinery and by using one main technology chain. This goal will be pursued through:
- collection and analysis of data on urban bio-waste production and present management systems in four territorial clusters that have been selected in different countries and have different characteristics.
- well-targeted experimental activity to solve a number of open technical issues (both process- and product-related), by using the appropriate combination of innovative and catalogue-proven technologies.
- market analysis whitin several economic scenarios and business models for full exploitation of bio-based products (including a path forward to fill regulatory gaps).
Urban bio-waste include the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (from households, restaurants, caterers and retail premises), excess sludge from urban wastewater treatment, garden and parks waste, selected waste from food-processing (if better recycling options in the food chain are not available), other selected waste streams, i.e. baby nappies.
Bio-based products include polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and related PHA-based bioplastics as well as ancillary productions:
biosolvents (to be used in PHA extraction) and fibers (to be used for PHA biocomposites).
Territorial and economic analyses will be done either considering the ex-novo implementation of the biowaste biorefinery or its integration into existing wastewater treatment or anaerobic digestion plants, with reference to clusters and for different production size. The economic analysis will be based on a portfolio of PHA-based bioplastics, which will be produced at pilot scale and tested for applications:
- Biodegradable commodity film
- Packaging interlayer film
- Specialty durables (such as electronics)
- Premium slow C-release material for ground water remediation

Sponsors:

Commissione Europea - H2020
Funds: assigned and managed by the department

Project participants

David Bolzonella
Full Professor
Andrea Caprara
Associate Professor
Sergio Moro
Associate Professor
Ivan Russo
Full Professor
Research areas involved in the project
Commercial Law
Contract Law
Publications
Title Authors Year
From trash to treasure: The impact of consumer perception of bio-waste products in closed-loop supply chains Russo, Ivan; Confente, Ilenia; Scarpi, Daniele; Hazen, Benjamin T. 2019
Novel routes for urban bio-waste management: A combined acidic fermentation and anaerobic digestion process for platform chemicals and biogas production Valentino, F.; Moretto, G.; Gottardo, M.; Pavan, P.; Bolzonella, D.; Majone, M. 2019
Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste Recovery by Conversion into Added-Value Polyhydroxyalkanoates and Biogas Valentino, F; Gottardo, M; Micolucci, F; Pavan, P; Bolzonella, D; Rossetti, S; Majone, M 2018
Volatile fatty acids production from food wastes for biorefinery platforms: A review Strazzera, Giuseppe; Battista, Federico; HERRERO GARCIA, Natalia; Frison, Nicola; Bolzonella, David 2018

Activities

Research facilities

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