Wastewater represents a massive amount of water (13 to 15 million m3 / day in France) that could be used as a potentially worthwhile resource, regardless of seasonal droughts. However, wastewater treatment plants are currently not able to achieve in a cost-effective way a sufficient water quality for its reuse as a resource. Therefore, the development of efficient strategies for further eliminating micropollutants and improving the microbiological quality of water is required in order to meet the European Framework Directive on Water and to overcome future water shortages. In this context, REMemBer is an applied research project that aims to develop a sustainable wastewater treatment technology allowing: (i) the implementation of an innovative compact solution combining both secondary and tertiary treatments within the same process (ii) the improvement of the chemical and microbiological quality of treated water, (iii) the possibility to recycle the treated water, and (iv) a lower footprint and consumption of energy/chemicals . The project is based on the combination of the advantages of membrane bioreactors (MBR) and electrochemical processes in a single innovative unit while overcoming the main disadvantages of both technologies (membrane fouling, mass transfer limitations, etc.). The novelty of the REMemBer project lies in the use of reactive electrochemical membranes (REM) as flow-through electrodes. REM have already been synthesized and showed a strong potential to reduce limitations related to diffusion of pollutants from the bulk to the electrode surface. Based on these promising results, the scientific challenges that will be addressed in this project aim at reaching a new milestone through the implementation of REM in a one-pot process where both the biomass separation and the tertiary treatment would be achieved in a single reactor: a Reactive Electrochemical Membrane Bioreactor (RE-MBR). The objectives are: (i) to favor the electro-oxidation of micropollutants owing to the convection-enhanced mass transport of pollutants, (ii) to improve the disinfection by both electro-oxidation and local pH conditions and (iii) to control membrane fouling. The main scientific and technological challenges for the implementation of a RE-MBR at industrial scale lie in: (i) the development of reactive electrochemical ultrafiltration membranes from microfiltration membranes currently commercially available, (ii) the understanding of (electro)chemical, physical and biological mechanisms at the electrode-liquid interface, which are only slightly described in the literature for this application and (iii) the design and validation of an electrochemical cell allowing optimal control of RE-MBR effectiveness and scale-up for an industrial application. The REMemBer project aims to address these challenges by developing a multi-scale approach combining multidisciplinary experimental analyzes and modeling. The scientific program of the project is divided into five main scientific and technological tasks: REM elaboration, characterization and optimization (WP1); understanding of the mechanisms at the REM-liquid interface (WP2); assessment of global performances and effectiveness of the process at lab-scale (WP3); multi-scale modelling (WP4); development of a demonstrator for technical, economic and environmental analyses (WP5). The project brings together two university laboratories LGE (Université Gustave Eiffel) and IEM (Université Montpellier), an applied research institute (INRAE-PROSE), SIAAP (the Greater Paris Sanitation Authority (public industrial company)) and a small company specialized in development of innovative processes and technology transfer (FIRMUS).

CElectrON project aims to contribute to the sustainable management of a vital natural resource, water, throughout the development of an innovative technology based on the coupling of nanofiltration, a membrane separation process, and the electro-Fenton process, an advanced oxidation process. This one-pot technology should ensure the treatment and recycling of water involved into industrial processes. The treatment directly at the pollution source allows a better knowledge of the pollutants and thus of their degradation avoiding at the same time their mixture with other effluents. Our strategy is based on the study of factual situations: wastewater from the pharmaceutical industry. Indeed, these effluents represent a source of bio-refractory micropollutants that cannot be released in nature directly. Currently, compatible and reliable technologies, developed to treat and recycle the pollutants by avoiding associated water wastage at the same time, are still missing. If this project were successful, it would be easily foreseeable to apply this innovative coupling technology to other wastewater effluents treatment showing a persistent organic characteristic, such as effluents from industry, hospital and agriculture with a low flux, etc. More precisely, the major scientific and technical objectives of CELectrON project are: (i) the elaboration of conductive nanofiltration membranes based on carbon graphite and/or TiOx that will allow the nanofiltration/electrochemical oxidation coupling, (ii) optimization of organic pollutants degradation upon electro-Fenton process using the prepared membranes aiming to establish correlations between geometry, structure, hydrodynamic conditions, physico-chemical characteristics of the medium to be treated and the applied electrical current, (iii) implementation of the baromembrane filtration and electro-Fenton coupling process, (iv) design and dimensioning of a system that may be directly integrated to the rejection source of the targeted pollutants to allow therefore the water treatment and recycling directly at its use point and (v) the study of the environmental impact and technico-economic analysis of the original proposed technology.

This project deals with ‘Sustainable Methods and Technologies for Remediation’. It is an inter-sectoral partnership involving environmental biologists, chemists, physico-chemists and field practitioners. It aims at overcoming current limits in terms of efficiency, cost, sustainability and feasibility for the in situ regeneration of unsaturated zones contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons through the development and the assessment of surfactant foams. It aims at: - using the promoting properties of these foams to solve problems for contaminants and reactants transport throughout heterogeneous or low accessibility zones (soils with high permeability contrasts or located below building foundations and inside underground buildings) to deliver more homogeneously and within the overall space some active matter (oxidants, micro-organisms, nutrients) in order to ensure an effective contaminant degradation; - modelling properties for matter transport and transfer of those complex fluids, from soil pore to field scale and the numerical simulation of degradation kinetics; - testing this technology at the pilot-scale in a contaminated site and to perform a benefits/costs/risks assessment compared to established remediation approaches.

PEROV-TREAT aims at integrating perovskite-based porous materials in an electrochemical process for wastewater treatment in order to improve the treatment of persistent micropollutants and the management of antibiotic resistance, with the objective of reusing treated wastewaters. The application will focus on the tertiary treatment of wastewaters, an effluent from the pharmaceutical industry and a hospital effluent. The effectiveness of the process will be assessed using relevant indicators for micropollutants (ng/L ou µg/L) and occurrence of antibiotic resistant bacteria and genes. The Swiss micropollutant plan will be used for the selection of targeted micropollutants (carbamazepine, benzotriazole, irbesartan, hydrochlorothiazide). The main objective of this project is to obtain an optimal trade-off between (i) the reactivity for removing target compounds (degradation, mineralization), (ii) the minimization of by-product formation related to the organic/inorganic matrix (ClO3-, ClO4-, BrO3-, AOX), (iii) the stability of the electrocatalytic material for long-term applications. In this context, the use of perovskite-based materials appears currently as promising. They are used in various other processes for their stability features, while their catalytic properties allow for the activation of oxidants (H2O2, persulfates) for degradation of a large range of micropollutants, also through non-radical mechanisms. Therefore, the project combines the expertise of 4 laboratories: LGE (U. Eiffel), specialized in electrochemical processes for water treatment, which coordinates the project; UCCS (U. Lille), specialized in the synthesis and shaping of heterogeneous catalysts; IC2MP (U. Poitiers), specialized in the study of catalyst reactivity and reaction mechanisms; IEM (U. Montpellier) specialized in the conception and monitoring of innovative processes for water treatment at pilot scale. The novelty of the project is based on the integration of perovskite-based porous materials in an electrochemical process, and the improvement of the understanding of relations between material structure and (electro)catalytic properties for water treatment. Different perovskites will be synthesized for tuning their reducibility of transition metals composition (Fe/Cu) and the concentration of ionic vacancies. Shaping as porous materials using polystyrene templating or impregnation of commercial porous electrodes (UCCS) will be performed, with targeted pore size between 10 and 100 µm for improving mass transport conditions while limiting issues related to pressure drop and fouling. A multi-scale methodology will thereafter be implemented for studying the relations between material structures and (electro)catalytic properties, using measurements of reducibility and mobility of oxygen by isotopic exchange (IC2MP). LGE will assess the influence of the nature of catalysts and process configuration on (i) the formation of reactive species and reaction mechanisms, (ii) the formation of undesired by-products, (iii) the stability of (electro)catalysts. The most promising materials will be then integrated at IEM in an electrocatalytic microfiltratation process at laboratory pilot-scale (5 L/h). The pilot-scale design will be based on modeling results of reactive transport in order to optimize mass transport conditions for the treatment of low concentrations of micropollutants. The pilot-scale experiments will allow for the evaluation of process performances for the treatment of real effluents (municipal, hospital, pharmaceutical industry wastewater) using relevant indicators directly related to current priorities (micropollutants, PFAS, antibioresistance).

The IRONWOMAN project aim to validate the hypothesis of the primordial role of marine iron-oxidizing bacteria (FeOB) in promoting the development of iron-rich mats, and impacting the iron biogeochemical cycle and the primary production in the deep oceans, according to the variations of the environmental conditions at play. For this purpose, we propose to carry out 1) in situ sampling of iron-rich mats through either punctual annual sampling or deployments of colonization experiments, and a newly developed nucleic acids and fluids sampler instrument enabling monthly collection; 2) continuous monitoring of physico-chemical environmental conditions at two contrasted deep-ocean environments of EMSO Azores (Atlantic hydrothermal site) and EMSO West Ligure (Mediterranean deep coastal plain), taking advantage of their status of deep-sea observatory (IR EMSO France); and 3) geochemical, isotopic, mineralogical, cultural and microbiological multi-omics analyses. Through these multidisciplinary and long-term approaches and instrumental development, the IRONWOMAN project would have an impact on better knowledge of ocean microbial biodiversity and its response to global environmental changes that could impact dO2 and dFe in deep ocean. To achieve our research objective, the work plan will be carried out by a consortium of complementary research team from four national institutions (MIO Marseille, GET Toulouse, URA-OMP Toulouse and LGE Marne La Vallée). The project is divided into five work packages: WP0-Management, to ensure the coordination between partner and the results dissemination; WP1-Sampling and Instrumentation, to ensure sampling and in situ experiments during the annual cruises but also the development of the FLUICS instrument; WP2-Characterization of environmental conditions to characterize the physico-chemical conditions surrounding iron-rich microbial mats; WP3-Biological characterization of mats, to characterize the microbial composition present in iron-rich mats, the active microbial species and their functioning via OMICS approaches; and WP4-Ex situ enrichment culture of microbial mats, to investigate the influence of dFe and dO2 variations on the functioning of microbial mats and iron acquisition pathways. The IRONWOMAN project will be the first dedicated multidisciplinary and long-term approach (relying on TGIR FOF and IR EMSO-France, the French node of the European infrastructure EMSO which is a legal entity under European law ERIC) conducted on entire microbial mats, leading to a full coverage of the complex interactions between them and their environment. Therefore, a combined strategy between in situ colonization through the development of a new device FLUICS and in vitro cultures, will allow us to improve our knowledge on the formation and evolution of iron-rich microbial mats with regards to environmental forcing. Through this topic, The IRONWOMAN project enters within the ANR research axis 1.2 “Terre Vivante”. Indeed, it addresses part of the objectives of the United Nations Ocean Decade (2021-2030) by developing a better knowledge and understanding of the ocean in order to protect and restore the ecosystem and biodiversity. Furthermore, by developing the FLUICS instrument, disseminating our results and dropping off the physico-chemical and sequencing data at databases, it will contribute to the expansion of the global ocean observing system, another objective of the Decade of the Oceans. This project will provide data to define the role of FeOBs as an actor in the iron cycle for primary production in deep waters, on two deep marine sites with different environmental conditions, and the interaction between iron, carbon and nitrogen cycles inside the mats. From its title (IRONWOMAN) to the organization of its Consortium and Work Plan, the IRONWOMAN project is fully gender-sensitive. A total budget of €552k is requested for 48 months, including 60 months of staff support, divided between the partners.