MILAN (ITALPRESS) – From the waste waters of Milan, precious resources are born for agriculture and industry. They are the first, important, results of three projects on which MM Spa, a company 100% participated by the City of Milan and manager of the entire city water service, is working. On the occasion of the World Water Day, promoted by the UN and in the calendar for Sunday, March 22, MM Spa relaunches the commitment to efficient and innovative management of the water resource and recounts ongoing experimentation to transform biological waste and sewage sludge into valuable resources for agriculture and industry thanks to the adoption of innovative technologies. “Milano is a virtuous model of efficient management of the water resource – said Francesco Mascolo, managing director of MM Spa, in the margin of his intervention this morning at the “Forum Valore Acqua” organized by TEHA Group (The European House – Ambrosetti) in course in Rome -. With losses reduced to less than 11%, compared to a national average of more than 37%, and a strong propensity to innovation. In fact, we are investing in research projects and experiments aimed at developing new technologies to support a virtuous path of circular economy in the aquatic environment. In this direction, the projects aimed at extracting matter and energy from water are underway.”.
Specifically, the research involves the MM purifiers of Nosedo and San Rocco and they see the collaboration with universities of excellence, such as Politecnico di Milano, Politecnico di Torino and Università di Bologna, as well as industrial partners, including A2A Ambiente, Gruppo CAP and Re-Cord. The NEOFOS project, funded by the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, has as its leader the CAP Group and aims to recover phosphorus from waste water and sewage sludge. Phosphorus is essential for fertilizers and industrial applications, such as lithium-ferro-phosphate batteries. NEOFOS develops innovative technologies for the extraction of nutrients from waste water, creating a scalable and replicable circular economy model. The THELMA project is supported by the European RFCS (Research Fund for Coal and Steel) and heads on an industrial scale a process to transform sludge and green waste into biocarbons and phosphorus-based fertilizer, already complying with End-of-Waste standards. The goal is to offer a sustainable alternative to fossil coal and produce useful materials for agriculture and industry, through technologies based on thermal processes.
The F.O.S.F.O.R.O project, head of A2A Ambiente, is instead funded by the Lombardy Region and optimizes the extraction of phosphorus and other nutrients from sludge and ashes deriving from the purification. At the San Rocco purifier research activities are carried out on the recovery of phosphorus from ash from mono-incineration, while at the Nosedo purifier test techniques of thickening and granulation of sludge to increase the efficiency of the biological removal of phosphorus, thus closing the virtuous cycle of natural nutrients. “These projects – said Mascolo, also as vice-president of APE (European Aqua Publica), the European association of public water service managers – place MM on the frontier of innovation in the national and European context for the transformation of waste into a resource. In parallel we are engaged in the difficult but virtuous path towards energy neutrality. Making our purification plants self-sufficient from one point of view of energy production is the other step that strengthens our sustainability path.”.
The design and construction of a photovoltaic system at the Nosedo purifier, which goes to add to the already operating one at the San Rocco purifier, is a concrete step towards self-production of energy and the reduction of climate emissions.
– MM press office photos –
(ITALPRESS).
