Institutions
Beneficiary
Spain
The Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA) is a research centre created for research and innovation in the sustainable use of water. Its specificity is in encompassing several strategic areas of water research, i.e., chemistry, ecology, water technology, and microbiology, in a single Institute. ICRA focuses research of the integral water cycle, hydraulic resources, water quality (in the broadest sense of the term: chemical, microbiological, ecological, etc.) and treatment and evaluation technologies and to transfer this knowledge to society and business network.
Despite being a relatively young Institute (inaugurated in 2009), ICRA has demonstrated the capacity to carry out high quality, internationally significant research. In the period 2009-2013, ICRA researchers published 461 SCI research articles. Currently, there are 11 ongoing European and 23 Spanish R&D projects, 5 European transfer of knowledge projects, as well as several service contracts.
ICRA Research Plan is structured in three major research areas:Resources and ecosystems
This research area investigates the spatial and temporal dynamics of water resources and its potential effects, especially on the structure and function of continental aquatic ecosystems.
Water Quality
The main objective of this area is to define the concentrations, fate, and mechanisms of action of pollutants and pathogenic elements in natural and reused waters.
Technologies and evaluation
This research area develops and evaluates methodologies and technologies for optimizing resources, energy efficiency, and cost minimization of processes related to the urban water system.
Spain
University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) is one of the historical Universities in Spain, founded in 1495. It has more than 300 research groups and has participated actively in more than 100 projects under various EU Initiatives. In addition, it has published more than 1,600 articles in JCR journals in 2016. USC has been recognized by the Spanish Ministry of Education in the top ten as one of the International Campus of Excellence.
The Group of Environmental Biotechnology (Biogroup)
The Group of Environmental Biotechnology (Biogroup) belongs to the Department of Chemical Engineering at USC. The group is composed by 10 teachers, 10 post-doctoral researchers, 1 technological manager, 3 laboratory technicians, 2 administrative and dissemination managers and more than 30 PhD students, 5-10 students of foreign universities that carry out projects or stays.
In the last years (2013-2018) its scientific background can be summarised in 316 publications (276 SCI, 67% of which were published in Q1), 40 Doctoral Theses, 15 European projects and international networks, 24 Spanish Projects, 30 contracts with companies and 290 presentations at international congresses. The group has also coordinated 3 Wastewater Treatment Networks at European (COST Action Water_2020), National (RedNovedar) and Regional (Rede REGATA) level. Since 2015 it coordinates the Strategic Partnership CRETUS (Cross-Research in Environmental Technologies). The Biogroup is recognized as Competitive Reference Group since 2006.
Research activities are focused on:
(i) Treatment and resource recovery for waste and wastewater.
(ii) Environmental management, including Life Cycle Management (Life Cycle Assessment and environmental footprint, eco-design, and energy efficiency) and risk assessment.
(iii) Biorefinery, including the production of biopolymers, biofuels and biochemical and added-value compounds.
In recent years, the team has participated in several research projects and contracts related to the line of “Environmental Management”. In this sense, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and carbon footprint methodologies have been applied to different products and services of different areas, including:
(i) Methodological aspects: characterization and normalization factors, allocation of burdens and integration of data envelopment analysis,
(ii) Fishery sector (including extensive and intensive aquaculture)
(iii) Agri-food sector; (iv) sustainable transport: mobility and logistics
(v) Bioenergy & biofuels
(vi) Forest and wood industry
(vii) Environmental evaluation of wastewater treatment technologies
(viii) Waste management
(ix) Circular economy
(x) Smart cities
Germany
RWTH Aachen is the largest university of technology in Germany with about 45,000 enrolled students. The Institute for Environmental Research is part of the Biology group in the faculty of Natural Sciences. There, 5 professors, about 40 PhD students, and master and bachelor students work on three different research areas.
Effects and Monitoring
Anthropogenic and natural pollutants often result in adverse effects on different levels of biological organisation – from molecules to ecosystems. We are developing test systems in order to assess both acute and mechanism-specific toxicity as well as chronic toxicity caused by chemicals in different environmental compartments, as water, sediment, and soil. These are investigated by in vitro methods, various test species, populations and communities in the lab- and field-based systems. The observed effects together with data on the fate of chemicals in the environment are used for assessing the environmental risk of chemicals.
Fate and Remediation
The exposure of organisms with environmental contaminants is directly linked to the properties of the environmental matrix and the physical-chemical properties and the fate of such chemicals. In this area of our research we study, therefore, the metabolism, bioavailability, binding, and formation of non-extractable residues of the pollutants in soil, water-sediment, and plants. In addition, we develop remediation technologies of polluted sites, e.g. by phytoremediation.
Modelling and Simulation
Modelling and simulation play an important role in the study of ecological systems. In environmental risk analysis, different kinds of techniques are used to model spatial and temporal dynamics. Simulation models are able to depict and predict concentration-dependent effects and their extent on individuals, populations, and communities. In the individual-based simulation, we use process-based models based on the life-cycle of individuals, in statistic modelling approaches the model structure is developed in a data-based inductive way.
Croatia
The Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology was founded in 1919, as the first Department of Chemical Engineering in Croatia – a part of the Technical Institute Zagreb. A great number of distinguished scientists have worked there; the most noteworthy of whom is certainly Vladimir Prelog, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1975, who taught organic chemistry in the period from 1934 to 1941.
Today, the mission of the Faculty is to promote chemical engineering, applied chemistry, materials engineering and environmental engineering as scientific disciplines by establishing links between science and technology and economy, industry and public activities, aiming at sustainable development, increasing the general level of innovation in the society, accelerating knowledge transfer, creating and promoting new entrepreneurship. The vision of Faculty is to become recognised in the Central and South Eastern European region as the focal point of partnership- and cooperation-based gathering at the international, national and local level, in the projects developing innovative and improving current chemical processes, products/materials, and conduction environmental protection projects. The Faculty is organized in 16 departments that perform teaching, scientific research, professional and consulting activities in aforementioned scientific areas. Regarding the number of papers published in peer-review journals, the Faculty is among the most research-oriented institutions at the University of Zagreb. The Faculty has also developed valuable international cooperation with various scientific institutions in the world, either directly or through inter-university cooperation.
Croatia
The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FSB) is the oldest and the biggest faculty of mechanical engineering, naval architecture, and aeronautical engineering in Croatia. The main strategic research-innovation objectives of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture is to improve the research potential of the Faculty and to improve the research influence of the Faculty on the industry and entrepreneurship through participation in significant national and international research projects with the overall aim for achieving scientific excellence, visibility and recognition of the Faculty. The main research fields are engineering design, materials, new technologies, new manufacturing processes, and engineering, maintenance and tribology, transport systems (land, sea, and air) and offshore engineering, process- and environmental engineering.
Currently, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FSB) participates in 56 projects, both EU and national ones.
Serbia
The Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy of the University of Belgrade (FTM) is the leading and the oldest accredited high education, scientific and research institution in the field of chemical technologies in Serbia and the region.
Education
During 95 years, more than 12.000 students received bachelor (10.500), master (1.100) or doctoral degree (650) at the FTM within 19 accredited study programs.
Research
FTM carries out research and educational programs linking together fundamental knowledge and practical application of chemical and engineering processes in various industrial areas. Research activities are oriented to the realization of numerous research projects in the field of basic research, innovative and technological development projects.
Cooperation with industry
FTM is involved in the design of the pilot and industrial chemical plants assist in the design of systems providing clean water and is engaged in developing proper management of hazardous waste.
Serbia
The Institute of Physics Belgrade, a National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, is a first-class research institution dedicated to the study of physics and related disciplines. The research conducted here into the fundamental mechanisms of nature is of immense value to the scientific, educational, cultural, and the overall socioeconomic development of Serbia. Founded in 1961, the Institute of Physics was a product of a surge in physics research in postwar Yugoslavia.
CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE
The Institute of Physics hosts four national and European Centers of Excellence:
1.Center for Non-Equilibrium Processes – Low-temperature plasmas and gas discharges
2.Center for Solid State Physics and New Materials – Microscopic and spectroscopic characterization of materials
3.Center for the Study of Complex Systems – Ultracold quantum gases, nonlinear dynamics, strongly correlated electronic systems, electronic transport in materials, granular materials, techno-social, biological, and nano complex networks
4.Photonics Center – Classical and quantum optics, holography
LABORATORIES
Research is conducted in 25 laboratories equipped for high-grade work in physics and related fields. There are around 200 members of the research staff at the IPB. Between 2013 and 2016, ipb researchers published more than 2000 articles, of which 63 percent were in renowned international journals.
Italy
The Department of Engineering (DE) of the University of Ferrara is placed inside the Scientific and Technological Campus, a green area not far from the city center, developed around an old restored sugar factory (see the picture) where there are educational spaces, research laboratories, study rooms, the library, and the canteen.
The Department of Engineering consists of 60 permanent professors and researchers, 80 temporary researchers and collaborators (including PhD students), 15 technical and administrative staff.
DE offers degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electronic and Computer Science Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering, Master degrees in Civil Engineering, Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering, Computer Science and Automation Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. and a school of doctorate in Engineering Science.
Within DE, research activities are carried out in the different fields of the three areas: civil-environmental (environmental and sanitary engineering, hydraulic constructions and hydrology, fluid mechanics, solid and structure mechanics, applied geomatics, geotechnical, acoustics), mechanical (metallurgy, manufacturing, corrosion, mechanics of machines and vibrations, machine design, fluid machinery and energy systems) and ICT (automatic control, photonics and electromagnetics, electronics, computer science, telecommunications, statistical signal processing).
Research projects are funded by competitive national and international projects and involve national and international companies, Italian and foreign Universities.
Finally, DE staff is also involved in technological and scientific knowledge transfer activities (the so-called “Third mission”) with industries, schools, associations.
Partner organisations
Switzerland
School of Life Sciences
Study and research at the interface between nature, technology, medicine and the environment.
Based in Muttenz near Basel, the FHNW School of Life Sciences is part of Europe’s largest life sciences centre and lies at the heart of pharmaceutical and medical technology, the chemical industry and environmental and biotechnology. It is here that we train skilled specialists and come up with solutions to the social and economic challenges of tomorrow. We are committed to developing new preventive and therapeutic products and services, improving people’s quality of life and promoting a sustainable attitude to the environment
Italy
Born in 2002 out of the aggregation of 11 municipal companies operating in Emilia-Romagna, first corporation of its kind nationwide, over time Hera has embarked on a journey of consistent and balanced growth, incorporating other companies active in the same areas. Hera, publicly listed since 2003, turned 15 on 1st November 2017 and is now among the nation’s largest multi-utilities, working mainly in the environment (waste management), water (aqueduct, sewerage and purification) and energy (electricity, gas distribution and sales, energy services) sectors. Other services offered include public lighting and telecommunications. Its range of activities undergoes continuous and constant development, and reflects the five levers on which the Group’s strategic orientation is founded: growth, efficiency, excellence, innovation and agility.
Within the panorama of public services in Italy, the Hera Group’s leadership can easily be recognised in a few figures: almost 9,000 employees who meet the needs of 4.4 million citizens in over 350 municipalities in Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Marche, Tuscany and Veneto.
Spain
Cetaqua is a model of public-private collaboration that was created to ensure the sustainability and efficiency of the water cycle while taking regional needs into account.
This model has been consolidated as a benchmark in the application of academic knowledge to water and environment by creating products and services that benefit society.
The collaborations we establish allow us to ensure that we are actually working on innovative, robust and relevant solutions.
Croatia
CWT – Comprehensive Water Technology
