What is BAPUR Project?

BAPUR Project is an M-ERA.NET initiative for developing «Fully Bio-based Advanced Filtration Systems for Removal of Emerging Pollutants from Water«.

Water pollution is an important environmental issue that has complex environmental effects. Generally, emerging water pollutants are subject to environmental concerns due to their unwanted biological activity that has been proven to significantly affect the environment, including changes in water organism behavior, accumulation, and involvement in the food chain systems with a direct impact on humans. Some of the hormones, pharmaceutical substances, and their metabolites, additives such as flame-retardants, heavy metals, and agrochemicals belong to the group of water pollutants. In addition, the new Directive for urban wastewater in Europe demands a mandatory quaternary treatment of micropollutants.

In order to remove and/or deactivate the emerging pollutants from water, different filtration materials have been developed. However, the material resources that are used for that are often based on synthetic materials (membranes, fibrous or particular systems, construction materials) created via complex and energy-demanding processing technologies of fossil fuels. In addition, detailed and complex assessments can reveal that the preparation and functionalization of synthetic-based materials can even worsen the overall environmental impacts.

In this sense, the concept of a fully bio-based system for emerging pollutant removal and deactivation brings benefits by means of material availability and environmental responsibility with respect to CO₂ emissions and environmental fate after the finishing of the product´s lifetime.

The proposed project, named BAPUR, aims to develop a novel water filtration system consisting of functionalized bio-based nanomaterials with specific affinity to emerging pollutants such as estrogenic hormones, antibiotics, heavy metals, halogenated hydrocarbons, and microplastic. The proposed filtration systems will be developed with respect to:

1. Maximal employment of waste (not only cellulose but also lignin will be used), recycled or renewable materials (biomass).
2. Involvement of the green chemistry principles, advanced fabrication tools.
3. Circular economy and sustainability concept, considering not only techno-economic evaluation but also environmental and social issues.

The project activities will include research activities in the field of advanced processing of biomass-based materials, development of functionalized composite nanostructures, design of filtration unit, and detailed testing with advanced analytical techniques. The experimental data will be used for mathematical modeling and simulation with the aim to optimize the filtration systems. Life cycle assessment, techno-economic evaluation, and multi-criteria analysis will be an integral part of the research activities. Furthermore, a high effort in dissemination and outreach activities will be carried out. This multidisciplinary project connects up-to-date knowledge from the fields of material and environmental engineering, nanomaterial and polymer science, analytical and organic chemistry, and socio-economic aspects.

The basic concept of the project has been verified on the laboratory scale (TRL3), highlighting the work done by the partner from the Czech Republic about the use of filtration units made from waste cigarette butts. The target technology readiness level is 6 (six) – Full-scale prototype, Field demonstration.