Exploration the nexus bioeconomy, energy and climate change through waste streams: biomass residues and wastewater

Abstract

This proposal aims to start a new international academic collaboration between USP and TU Delft. Considering the challenges are complex, the benefits of the academic interaction are mutual. The planet situation with the current scarcity of world resources, the increased energy costs and the increasing environmental awareness have in the last years increased the focus on the circular economy, resulting in concepts such as reuse and recycling. This development means that waste is regarded now as potential resource and source of income. Achieving sustainable management of these resources requires use of a bioeconomy and circularity approach in which "wastes" are recovered, transformed, processed and reused. In addition, the great potential for interactions between sectors can contribute to address multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The industrial, agroindustrial and municipal wastewaters can be recovered for many applications, bioenergy as biomethane, electricity and hydrogen, and nutrients for affordable resources to produce fertilizers and more food. These actions can even have positive societal effects providing jobs and reducing poverty, while reducing impacts on climate changes. These interactions and potential trade-offs between the interlinked sectors and goals are not yet fully comprehended. Public policies need to be driven by robust science-based guidance on specific scenarios so that the best actions should be taken in order to realise improvements to maximize benefit leverage points. One of the aims of this proposal is to jointly (USP/TU Delft) identify strategies for achieving SDG through leverage points within this critical connection: bioeconomy-energy-water-climate based on wastes as sources/inputs. (AU)