Awarded EU H2020 proposal: INDIA-H2O

Together with its partners, IHE Delft has received approval from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (H2020-SC5-12-2018: EU-India Water Co-operation) for a project titled “bIo-mimetic and phyto-technologies Designed for low-cost purification and recycling of water (Abbreviated as INDIA-H2O).

The overall aim of INDIA-H2O is to develop, design and demonstrate high-recovery low-cost water treatment systems for saline groundwater and for domestic and industrial wastewaters. The focus for developments will be in the arid state of Gujarat, India, where surface water resources are very scarce. The project is aimed to develop novel batch-reverse osmosis technology for a 10-fold reduction in specific energy consumption with high fractions of water recovery (80 %) reducing /m3 operating costs to below €0.35/m3 . Forward osmosis will be developed and piloted for use in wastewater recovery applications including Cost-effective technologies and systems are proposed with the aim of lowering energy costs through dramatic improvements in energy efficiency, new bio-based approaches to water recycling, and use of renewable energy. Reject waste streams will be minimised or reduced to zero, thus protecting the environment. The INDIA-H2O concept for piloting water recycling and water energy food nexus at a village level is shown in the picture.

The project leader is Aston University, UK and has 20 partners from UK, India, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, Singapore, and Israel.

IHE staff involved: Jeltsje Kemerink, Nirajan Dhakal, Maria Kennedy