The objective of the project is the development and implementation, in EMASESA of a new integrated management model for sludge from urban wastewater treatment, resulting from the purification of water and other non-hazardous organic waste. In the context of the provision of public water supply and sanitation services, a correct closure of the urban water cycle includes the return to the natural environment of the treated water, once its polluting load has been removed; and the treatment and final disposal of the main waste generated: sewage and purification sludge. This process is not simple, it has environmental impacts, its regulation is gradually stricter and there are no well-established solutions for it. Likewise, the new system will make it possible to offer a treatment and final disposal of other organic waste, generated by other geographically close activities, public or private, such as agriculture, agri-food industry, municipal pruning, etc. The new system must be sustainable in the long term in the three main aspects: economic, social and environmental, it must be aligned with current regulatory trends and mandatory at all times and must be based on the principles of the Circular Economy, creating wealth in the environment from the elaboration of a product (compost) from the recovery of sludge, demanded and widely accepted in the agricultural world. The model must be a general solution to respond to a risk of technical impossibility of legal compliance as of August 2021. In this area, there are no well-established techniques or models, nor are there any known facilities that can serve as a reference to develop (or replicate) a new solution that allows reaching the minimum performance level (legal compliance) or the objective level (more demanding). There are no known commercial solutions that offer an adequate answer. In summary, the proposal is based on the development and implementation of: ¿ An advanced sludge treatment, sanitation and management system that, through the appropriate integration and combination of processes such as thermal hydrolysis, solar drying and composting, allows obtaining of a sanitized and recoverable product in agriculture, using the least possible amount of structuring agent in the process. ¿ The development and implementation of advanced technologies for the treatment of gaseous emissions in such a way as to minimize the impact on nearby population centers and may even value these emissions. ¿ The optimization of processes through the digitization and robotization of operations, including the development of machine learning models and monitoring of efficiencies in sanitation, advanced management of air quality and odors, and the monitoring of the carbon footprint and other environmental indicators.
