GOLEM (INNOVIRIS-Bridge, 2019-2022)

Holistic green chemistry approach to deal with Brussels finely-grained contaminated materials from street surfaces and Canal dredging and to convert them into valuable materials

Coordinator: ULB

More than 60 ktons/year of urban sediments are collected in the Brussels-Capital Region, which include dredging sediments and street sweeping residues (8 ktons/year). They are treated mainly outside Brussels. These sediments constitute a double environmental problem: first, they must be collected because they concentrate hazardous contaminants (heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants). The collection of contaminant materials from road surfaces, through street sweeping, is able to limit aerosol pollution detrimental to human health. Second, these collected sediments constitute a waste which, at the present time, is not valued at all. A similar remark) can be made for the silt-clay fraction of the dredging sediments which need to be extracted each year out of the Brussels Canal.

The objective of this project is to implement a systematic approach to explore economically-viable valorisation routes for these urban sediments. Our team contributes to the analysis of the organic pollutants and on the bioremediation, with a special focus on PCBs.