CellPRO: reprocessing cellulose from waste water

Research project

André Heeres en Erik Keller bij de MRSU in ZAP Groningen.jpg

Have you ever thought about what happens to toilet paper after you flush it? Probably not. The material dissolves partly, but the organic material from the paper remains in the sewage water. One of the raw materials of paper and cardboard is cellulose, a natural substance. This cellulose can be recovered and reused. This project works on more effective and sustainable methods to reprocess cellulose and reuse it as a raw material.

Wastewater treatment is a well-organised process in the Netherlands. Still, there are potential possibilities to use wastewater within the circular transition too. Wastewater contains a lot of organic material, especially cellulose, which you can reuse if you reprocess it from wastewater. The recovery of raw materials from wastewater is still in its infancy and this project contributes to gaining more knowledge about this process.

Several partners are working closely together within this project. The knowledge of Hanze UAS and the University of Groningen is combined with the practical experience of ReCell to jointly develop high-quality applications. This research project is linked to previous research into renewable raw materials from wastewater and builds on successful results from that research.

Because of this collaboration, technologies that are researched within the Hanze become part of the process technology of ReCell. This leads to a higher quality of the process and the products.

This project has resulted into the development of a continuous production system on commercial scale (see picture below). The Hanze UAS has contributed to the development of the pretreatment of cellulose. As a result, the quality of cellulose has improved, which adds to the commercial attraction of the product. Also, Hanze UAS has worked on the purification of glucose from cellulose, which has been scaled up to several kilograms.

The results of this research project were used to scale up the process to commercial scale. In addition, ReCell is investigating how the process can be made more widely applicable. The results are both socially and economically relevant. Recovery of cellulose and reuse as a raw material is a solution to the scarcity of these raw materials. In addition, it is a circular alternative to exhaustive fossil raw materials. Third, it reduces carbon dioxide emissions.