Developing innovative, circular solutions for wastewater treatment sludge

Francisco Ayala, DC1 from KU Leuven, has begun on July 2nd his secondment at James Kwan’s research group (University of Oxford), internationally recognized for its expertise in sonochemistry and reactor engineering. Here, Francisco will deepen his research on ultrasound degradation and defluorination of PFAS. Prof. Kwan’s group is uniquely equipped with state-of-the-art and in-lab developed ultrasound reactors that can operate across a wide range of frequencies and pressures. This will allow Francisco to explore how mid- and high-frequency and pressures influence PFAS degradation pathways, defluorination efficiency, energy consumption, and by-product

On Friday, 20th of June 2025, TU Delft WaterLab hosted a visit as part of the WaterMicro 2025 conference, where INCLUE Doctoral Candidate 4, Andrea, shared insights into the underexplored fate of organic micropollutants during Thermal Hydrolysis of wastewater sludge. Thermal Hydrolysis is a well-established process developed to produce Class A biosolids, enabling the safe reuse of sludge in agriculture by eliminating pathogens through high-temperature treatment (typically around 180°C for 30 minutes). While the process is widely recognised for its sterilising effect, its impact on organic micropollutants remains less understood. The presented research showed