The ELECTRA project is a 4-year Research Innovation Action consisting of one EC- funded consortium working closely together with a NSFC (Natural Science Foundation of China)-funded Chinese consortium.
The ELECTRA consortium aims to jointly develop and test highly innovative bio-electrochemical systems-based remediation biotechnologies at laboratory scale in environmentally relevant conditions and bring the four most efficient technologies to the field in both China and Europe.
A diverse set of technologies will be developed because:
(i) the matrices in which pollution occurs are highly diverse, requiring different approaches,
(ii) the types of pollutants to be addressed is equally diverse, and
(iii) multiple technologies are still at research development stage and worth further investigation.
The scientific hypothesis of ELECTRA
In the environment, electron-flow typically limits degradation, and is difficult to control; this major hurdle can be overcome with electro-microbiology. Microorganisms interacting with solid state electron donors or acceptors, be it electrodes or particles, can be deployed within many different matrices, for different pollutants and using diverse technological approaches minimizing or eliminating energy and/or chemical needs.
ELECTRA will lift bio-electrochemical systems to a next level for field applications and in-situ remediation of pollutants. ELECTRA’s experts will deliver 2 sets of in total 10 innovative environmental BES based biotechnologies, tailored for different environmental matrices and accelerating the elimination of several classes of pollutants and mixtures thereof in these matrices including wastewater, groundwater and solid matrices such as flooded soils and sediments. ELECTRA technologies must perform better in terms of risk management, energy consumption and chemicals requirement than standard physico-chemical remediation approaches such as excavation.
An EU-China RIA initiative | H2020 project GA 826244
