The motivation behind CORNERSTONE project relies on providing a competitive and sustainable alternative for treating challenging industrial wastewaters, contributing to the principles of sustainable water management and efficient resource recovery. Within this context, the sustainability work package of CORNERSTONE led by BETA Technological Centre from UVic-UCC, targets the implementation of the LCA framework to evaluate the environmental performance of innovative wastewater recovery solutions. BETA UVic team aims to assess the six novel treatment modules proposed within the project, and the three tailor-made systems dedicated to the steel, pulp & paper and chemical case studies.
The wastewater solutions proposed for the case studies will combine thermal, electrochemical, biological and membrane unit operations to maximize water recovery and process circularity. Hence, the environmental assessment is being framed not only towards sustainable recovery of water effluents, but also at the potential valorisation of energy and solutes depending on the selected modules. In this regard, the main particularity of the assessment is the multifunctionality of the systems, referred to the recovery of more than one product or stream. Following a bottom-up approach, the Life Cycle Assessment team will deploy the strategical roadmap to analyse these multifunctional solutions in collaboration with project partners and technological module developers.
UVic, January 2025
Picture: HKM Site Visit
