Unipi Team Leader: dott.ssa Claudia Vannini, Dipartimento di Biologia 

People living in industrial tannery districts, especially those close to wastewater treatment plants, have traditionally experienced poor air quality and odour problems caused by emissions of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and other sulphurous compounds.

The BIOSUR project aimed to demonstrate the economic feasibility, environmental sustainability, and technical applicability of an innovative technology for the removal of hydrogen sulphide from gaseous streams. The project planned to demonstrate the technology through the design, set up and operation of a pre-industrial scale prototype of a bio-trickling filter, which will be applied to real gaseous streams in a large tannery consortium’s wastewater treatment plant (WWTP).

Specific objectives were to identify opportunities for the dissemination of promising innovative technologies; to contribute to reducing EU greenhouse gas emissions by 2020; and to involve public administrations in the dissemination of innovative technologies, in one of Europe’s biggest tannery districts covering some 400 tanneries.

Coordinator:

Consorzio Cuoiodepur Spa, Italy

Partners:
• Umweltbundesamt GmbH, Germany
• Italprogetti Engineering Srl, Italy
• Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy
• Università di Pisa, Italy

Start date: 01/07/2012

End date: 31/12/2015

Project cost: 1,279,555.00 €

EU contribution 637,655.00 €

UNIPI role: partner

Project website: http://www.biosurproject.eu/it/content/biosur-project