EMPEREST project: Selected pilot plant results

A central objective of the EMPEREST project was to support large-scale investments at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) during major sector transitions, aligned with the new EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive 2024/3019 introducing advanced wastewater treatment. EMPEREST built two mobile pilot plants to test advanced treatment processes such as ozonation, granular activated carbon (GAC), ion exchange, and nanofiltration for their effectiveness in removing PFAS and other persistent micropollutants. Pilot plant A was set up in Gdańsk (PL) by Gdansk Water Utilities and pilot plant B was set up in Tartu (ES) by Tartu Waterworks and Tartu University. Both pilot plants allowed for flexible treatment configurations, either staging individual processes or combining them. Pilot plant A was tested in the WWTPs in Gdańsk (PL), Szczecin (PL), and Kaunas (LT), and pilot plant B in the WWTPs in Tartu (ES), Tallinn (ES), and Turku (FI). Effluent from the local WWTPs was routed into the pilots to compare treatment performance and removal rates in diverse environmental and operational contexts.

Taavo Tenno from Tartu University (ES) describes the two pilot plants, whereby Marek Swinarski from Gdańsk Water Utilities, (PL) presents in short the main results and the lessons learnt from the pilot testing in WWTP Gdańsk (PL). Piotr Miakoto from Water and Sewage Company Ltd. of Szczecin (PL) presents own results and Nina Leino gives an overview of the testing and main findings in Turku Region Wastewater Treatment Plant Ltd, Turku (FI). In the additional links you can find more relevant material, such as interviews with experts about the pilots, results from other treatment plants and the final EMPEREST output regarding the pilot testing.