The consortium of the project is coordinated by Eurecat, and counts with the participation of 7 associated beneficiaries including the Madrid Autonomous University and the engineering KEPLER (Spain), University of Tuscia and the project management and engineering Eni Rewind (Italy), the engineering VALGO (France), the fungal provider company Novobiom (Belgium) and the environmental consultancy providing services on monitoring Isodetect (Germany).
Partners
EURECAT - Centre Tecnològic de Catalunya
EURECAT – Centre Tecnològic de Catalunya is a non-profit private foundation whose aim is to efficiently contribute to improving the competitiveness and the technological and sustainable development of companies by providing specialized services and carrying out R&D and innovation projects.
EURECAT has participated in numerous projects and individual contracts aimed at innovation, development, testing and optimization of soil and water treatment and reuse technologies, in urban, agricultural, industrial and environmental sectors. Specifically in the line of soil and groundwater, EURECAT is able to perform studies, modelling and simulation of the behavior and mobility of pollutants and developing and optimizing technologies for in-situ and ex-situ treatments.
Furthermore, EURECAT has ample experience in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life-cycle Cost (LCC) studies in sectors such as: wastewater treatment and regeneration, water treatment, and energy production.
KEPLER
Since its foundation in 1995, KEPLER, INGENIERÍA Y ECOGESTIÓN offers a wide portfolio of solutions for the protection of the Environment, transport and storage of hazardous products and technologies based on renewable energies like biogas and mini-hydraulic power plants.
In these fields the company has a strong background in many innovative and sustainable projects which include investigation and remediation of soil and groundwater contaminated with a wide range of pollutants and preparation of risk assessments, due diligence reports and forensic studies.
KEPLER has its own laboratory that offers a long list of biotechnological services as microbial analysis through molecular tools, quantification of enzymatic activities, viability tests or isolation and cultivation of specific degrading microorganisms.
In addition, its R&D department performs national and international research projects in collaboration with Universities and Technology Centers that provides knowledge and experience that can bear fruit in new lines of business. The purpose of our R&D activity is to achieve a deep knowledge of all factors involved in the environmental solutions offered, increasing the effectiveness of the treatments, and reducing their costs.
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) is a benchmark for the excellence of its academic teaching, research and job placement of its graduates, as is recognized by prestigious global indicators such as the QS World University Ranking 2019, which places UAM as the number one university in Spain. Founded in 1968, UAM is a modern public institution committed to quality and service for its community.
Considered as Campus of International Excellence, UAM has seven Faculties, a Higher Polytechnic School (EPS) and more than 30 research centers and institutes, some of them in collaboration with the CSIC. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid has almost 30,000 students and currently offers 86 degrees, 82 master’s degrees and 35 doctorates.
The UAM team involved in the proposed LIFE project includes researchers from the Departments of Agricultural Chemistry and Food Science and Geology and Geochemistry. With a multidisciplinary and eminently applied vision, this team has developed for more than 30 years different lines of Research and Development related to waste and clays characterization to solve environmental problems associated to soil and water pollution within the concept of circular economy. Specifically in the last 15 years UAM team has focused on the practical application of spent mushroom substrates from the industry to reduce pollution of soil and water by heavy metals, drugs such as antibiotics, organochlorinated pollutants and especially polycyclic aromatic and petroleum hydrocarbons.
Eni Rewind
Eni Rewind is Eni’s environmental company and has been committed for the last twenty years to giving new life to land, water and waste – both industrial or from remediation activities – through sustainable remediation and revaluation projects. With around 1,000 employees, Eni Rewind is a global environmental contractor for all Eni business lines, from upstream to the service station network, and supports Eni in planning environmental interventions abroad. Since 2020, as the company aimed at incrementally evolving into a market operator, it has offered its environmental services to public and private, leveraging on its twenty years of experience in remediation and the integrated management of water and waste.
Università degli Studi della Tuscia
University of Tuscia (UNITUS) started its activity in 1981. It is a mid-sized University with 644 members of staff (approx. 320 Full, Associate and Assistant Profs.), about 8000 students, 16 and 17 Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees, 2 single-cycle degree courses and 7 PhD programs. In the National Research Quality Assessments (VQR 2004-2011 and 2011-2014), UNITUS ranked first among all Italian medium-sized Universities in the Agricultural Sciences.
The Department of Innovation of Biological System Food and Forestry (DIBAF) covers three complementary scientific areas: 1) Biological and Chemical Systems for Environment; 2) Food Science and Technology; 3) Agro-Forest Resources Management. The DIBAF staff consists of 64 permanent full, associate and assistant professors, 30 permanent technicians and administrative staff; moreover, DIBAF includes about 50 post-doc researchers and PhD students. DIBAF has been awarded as Department of Excellence by the Ministry of Research and University in Italy.
Valgo
Valgo is a private company, proposing from 2005 its expertise in site rehabilitation: asbestos removal, soil remediation and development of new activities. 12 agencies cover the French territory, including overseas, several European countries and Southern & Northern America. Our export department leads also projects in several countries, like Ivory Coast, Montenegro, Italy, or Argentina. The remediation department is rich of more than 60 experts in the whole field of geosciences (geology, geophysics, hydrogeology, microbiology, chemistry, civil engineering, process engineering …), studying the best suitable solution for each environmental issue. They can rely upon the in-house laboratory, to perform assays, to validate hypothesis, give the keys of a dimensioning or choose the best conditions for a complete removal of pollutants, fitting with sustainable development rules.
Beside this daily role, the lab, as scientific department, is also searching new application techniques, or ameliorate existing ones. This is particularly true when we have to consider new pollutants, or rules’ evolution. In the former years, the lab allowed VALGO to perform research in venting/bioventing (SOBIOVE), PCB degradation, thermal desorption, phytoremediation (DePlassMétaux), plasma oxidation, geophysical tools for pollution survey (GEOCARE). Those projects include several PhD thesis works.
Novobiom
Novobiom was founded on the conviction that taking inspiration from Nature’s know-how combined with strong science is the best way to design sustainable solutions to regenerate degraded ecosystems. We use the degradative capacities of fungi to broaden the scope of current bioremediation solutions to the treatment of persistent pollutants, opening the way to an entirely new field of environmentally friendly waste treatment solutions.
Our unique combination of expertise in environmental microbiology, fermentation technologies and environment, enables us to design tailored-made solutions for our clients and foster the development and the industrial uptake of fungal based solutions for environmental applications, e.g. environmental mycotechnologies.
ISODETECT
ISODETECT is a spin-off company from two German research centers (German Research Center for Environmental Health Munich, Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research Leipzig). It investigates degradation processes and contaminant sources at polluted sites, the age and origin of groundwater, and the characteristics of energy reservoirs by isotope analyses and microbial examinations.
Compound-specific Stable Isotope Analysis (CSIA), Stable Isotope Probing (SIP) and in situ microcosms (BACTRAPS) are key methods to elucidate biological and geochemical processes in subsurface compartments. With on-going technological developments in environmental monitoring, ISODETECT supplies analytical and scientific know-how to provide evidence, characterize and quantify the natural and stimulated transformation of pollutants as an integral part of remediation and monitoring technologies.
ISODETECT’S business model includes the market introduction of innovative tools, which is generated in close cooperation with partners from science and technology.
ISODETECT works for engineering companies, drinking water suppliers, exploration companies, research institutes and environmental authorities.
