Duration of the project: 24 months
The circular economy and the recovery of resources and nutrients from streams once considered waste is increasingly the way forward to achieve the ambitions of the circular economy on the ground. At the same time, a careful analysis of what the risks of the most modern bio-refineries might be, is needed. To meet these knowledge needs, relating to the safety of workers, consumers and the environment, the SAFE BIOREFINERY project will monitor 2 different microalgae production plants that perform nutrient, water and CO2 recovery practices, to identify possible areas of risk in the microbiological and environmental fields.
The data collected for monitoring will include microbiological data, metagenomic analysis (identification of the microalgae strains used for cultivation and other species possibly present in the consortium and their safety, for example toxic species), mass balance for macronutrients and micronutrients, including any pollutants (heavy metals) and all physical flows, such as the amount of waste water used, solar energy, CO2 recovered from the combustion gases.
