POLLUTANT PHOTO-NF REMEDIATION OF AGRO-WATER

The agro-food industry is the main manufacturing industry in Europe, representing 14% of the total turnover and accounting for approximately 1.8% of Europe’s total water use. The absence of effective wastewater management approaches can lead to potential ecological ramifications including environmental pollution, water quality deterioration and resource depletion. Currently, the level of pesticides concentration in the spent process wastewater constitutes one of the major areas of concern. In this context, the LIFE17 ENV/GR/000387-PureAgroH2O is expected to deliver an innovative solution by developing and demonstrating in practice a novel purification system for the sustainable management of the end-of-the-pipe wastewater effluents generated in two agro-food industries namely ZAGORIN-GR, Citricos-SP and other industries. The novel system is a close-to-market photocatalytic-nanofiltration reactor (PNFR) that utilises an in-house developed and patented water purification device, accommodating advanced photocatalytic monoliths and porous polymeric fiber-stabilized VLA-photocatalysts. The innovation of the reactor lies on the synergy between two of the most efficient processes for the removal of pesticides, namely nanofiltration and photocatalysis. The consortium strives also to ensure the autonomous process operation and safeguard stable efficiency that will not depend on the seasonal conditions (solar irradiation) and the agro-wastewater composition, constituting the PNFR process the ideal solution for decentralized water and wastewater treatment plants. In addition, the feasibility of achieving significant reduction in the required transmembrane pressure, extension of the life time of the process and higher effectiveness in the elimination of organic and inorganic pollutants, by developing the next generation aligned SWCNTs based photocatalytic monoliths, will be verified with the purpose of integrating them with the PNFR process. The major advantages of PNFR emerge due to simultaneous irradiation of the photocatalytic shell and lumen surfaces of the NF monolith and the inclusion of porous fiber stabilized VLA-photocatalysts in the annulus space of the module, that conclude to a retentate effluent with lower concentration of pesticides than the feed and an ultra-pure permeate stream. Acknowledgements We acknowledge funding by the European Commission, Environment, LIFE17 ENV/GR/000387-PureAgroH2O Programme