REWAGEN · Electrochemical WAter treatment system in the dairy industry with hydroGEN REcovery and electricity production

The aim of the project is the development of a prototype of a water treatment system -based on the sequential combination of three technologies: electrocoagulation, electrooxidation and a technology for the recovery of generated hydrogen for energy saving and the reutilization of the resulting regenerated water for different applications - more efficient in terms of wastewater treatment and self-sustaining in terms of energy needs. The idea is to develop a wastewater treatment system aiming at closing the water cycle, by integrating energy and water management, where the electricity generated through the hydrogen conversion is used to keep the system working and the extracted residues from the waste water treatment are reused inside the food and dairy production process to cover different needs.Therefore, the project would develop a system with technologies that have still not been jointly developed together with hydrogen recovery. The hydrogen generation from EC or EO systems for electricity production to be completely used to feed the wastewater system has not yet been developed. Still lot of research is needed for the generation of hydrogen from these two water treatment technologiesIt can be stated as a strength that such kind of electrochemical and hydrogen valorisation technologies have not still been jointly considered. As far as we are concerned there is no previous work focused on the recovery of generated hydrogen from EC or EO systems for electricity production, neither in bench-scale nor in real-life. Indeed, the scientific literature does not show any study considering the conversion of this electrochemically generated hydrogen into energy.