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Since the early 2010s, there has been a significant paradigm shift in the water sector. Wastewater treatment facilities are now being reconceived as "resource recovery and water recycling centres." The state of the art of carbon and nutrient removal and recovery from wastewater is one of transformation, driving the development and deployment of innovative and sustainable technologies. Struvite precipitation is a leading technology, recovering phosphorus as a crystalline solid for use as fertiliser but vivianite is getting much interest as recovery technologies evolve. Targeted ammonia recovery on the other side, is being tested at a high pace, and knowhow and learnings are being transferred from other industries. High nitrogen recovery yields have been demonstrated with ion exchange processes combined with hollow fibre membranes. Algal systems can absorb nutrients, producing biomass for biofuels or fertilisers. Additionally, bio-mineral forming microorganisms are being explored for their ability to form nutrient-rich bio-struvite. Others focus on carbon removal from wastewater, leaving a nutrient rich ultrafiltered stream that can be used for irrigation. To ensure the future and implementation of these exciting technologies, clear wider benefits to WWTPs must be demonstrated by reductions in operational costs (such as reduced chemicals, sludge production or electricity), release capacity in the WWTP or reducing green gas emissions. On the other side, the markets for the recovered products and regulation remain as key challenges that we must address. Does the concept of recovering nutrients for the agricultural sector still make sense after so many years of trying to engage with limited success? We should be looking at opportunities within the water sector itself and using the recovered products and nutrients to increase the sustainability of the water industry and drop the barriers for wider implementation.

Many countries are considering or have implemented large-scale water reclamation schemes to augment local water resources with non-potable and potable supplies. Early reclamation schemes evolved during the middle of the last century to establish an alternative to wastewater disposal mainly favoring reuse for agricultural and landscape irrigation. These non-potable reuse applications still represent the majority of water reuse worldwide today employing various tertiary treatment technologies followed by disinfection processes. Climate change impacts have increased the pressure to use alternative water resources not only in Southern Europe but also in Eastern and Central Europe as well as other regions. Water reclamation and reuse can be a viable option, in particular for non-potable reuse applications. The EU Parliament has endorsed the first water reuse regulation in 2020, which went into effect in June of 2023 in EU member states, that specifies minimal requirements for agricultural irrigation reuse applications. Some member states, such as Germany, have further specified technical and monitoring requirements for non-potable reuse. In addition, the revised EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive encourages water reuse and also now requires advanced water treatment for trace organic chemical removal for WWTPs with a capacity above 150,000 PE, which offers an effluent water quality that is almost directly applicable for water reuse applications. This talk will specify the needs and opportunities for expanding water reuse applications in Europe, discuss synergies with the requirements of the revised EU UWWTD, and evaluate the integration of water reclamation schemes into existing large-scale WWTPs.

With growing regulatory and societal pressures, utilities worldwide face the daunting challenge of improving effluent quality for expanding populations while simultaneously reducing costs, footprint, energy use, and GHG emissions. Whether driven by stricter regulatory requirements or voluntary decarbonization goals, utilities are in urgent need of innovative technologies to meet these demands. In this keynote, Nerea Uri Carreño will delve into the latest advancements in nutrient removal technologies, leveraging her extensive experience at VCS Denmark and insights from visiting leading wastewater treatment facilities globally. Nerea will introduce 'biofarming,' a groundbreaking approach to engineering activated sludge systems. This paradigm shift in wastewater treatment emphasizes the cultivation and management of microbial communities, aiming to enhance nutrient removal while achieving the seemingly impossible: minimizing footprint, energy and resource consumption, and GHG emissions—all at the same time.

The keynote shows a regional benchmarking scheme and its application for the development of wastewater treatment in Hungary as follows: - overall situation of water utilities and wastewater treatment in Hungary - the structure of regional operation companies - regional development strategies and goals and the role of a university department in these - benchmarking system - conditions of wastewater treatment in Hungary (raw wastewater characteristics, effluent standards, facilities) - and the way from the regional benchmarking to improvements, developments and new scientific results in light of the triangle: practice, science, and education

For almost 40 years we’ve been using process models, ASMs, containing HI, human intelligence (as opposed to AI). And for all those years modellers have been extracting data from lab logs and SCADA databases, transferring them into process models, setting up simulations, scenarios, calibrations, writing reports; all manually. And model developers were making models more and more complex, adding phosphorus, sulfur, greenhouse gases, sidestream and granular processes, energy and carbon footprint modules and many other features. This is a lot of manual work which is good for the consultants’ timesheets and consequently plants became more sophisticated and efficient. Then came the Digital Twin (DT) idea. Let’s automate all this work. In 1992, without ever thinking “DT”, I already set up a system for San Jose, California that autocalibrated and was used for tuning controllers to minimize effluent NO2. Sensor technology was not the same as today… In the talk, I will highlight basic principles of Digital Twins and explain a few live examples that are operating around the world.

The presentation will focus on the main elements included in the recently adopted revised Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) and notably the new requirements aiming at: • improving water quality by addressing remaining urban wastewater pollution from individual systems, small agglomerations below 2000 pe, stormwater overflows and urban runoff, new standards on micro pollutants and reinforced standards on Nitrogen and Phosphorus; • applying the polluters pays principle for the additional treatment needed to treat micropollutants; • moving towards energy neutrality and reducing greenhouse gas emissions; • improving access to sanitation especially for the most vulnerable and marginalised people; • requiring EU countries to monitor health relevant parameters in wastewater; • improving circularity of the sector; • improving the governance and the transparency in the sector. The main results of the impact assessment as well as a summary of the next steps will also be presented

A moderated discussion featuring experienced professionals and young innovators discussing emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities in wastewater treatment, focusing on themes like digitalization, sustainability, and resource recovery.