Developing innovative, circular solutions for wastewater treatment sludge

INCLUE Project Objectives

INCLUE will set up the first European doctoral training network on developing innovative, circular solutions for the treatment of sludge containing pollutants.

INCLUE will train 11 creative and entrepreneurially-minded DCs via an international, intersectoral and interdisciplinary research training program in the field of sludge pre-treatment combined with state-of-the-art bioconversion techniques and multi-level toxicity assessment, for the effective removal and/or recovery of both hazardous and valuable compounds from municipal and industrial sludges.

The success of the program is guaranteed via a unique combination of state-of-the-art PhD research, intersectoral secondments, international mobility and interdisciplinary platform-wide courses.

Research Objectives

Develop and optimise sustainable techniques to enhance the properties and composition of sludge through removal of (in)organic pollutants to eliminate any adverse effects for sludge application (i) in a subsequent bioconversion process or (ii) directly as a fertiliser on land.

Develop augmented fermentative bioconversion processes to produce renewable chemicals and fuels, and to recover nutrients from municipal and industrial sludges, potentially combined with pre-treatment technologies.

Create tools to assess the overall environmental performance of treated sludges towards toxicity, pollutant soil dynamics and agricultural
fertilising value in a combined decision support tool (WP3) for 5 different types of pollutants: pesticides, endocrine disrupting compounds, heavy metals, PFAS and antibiotics. Develop a socio-economic evaluation tool, to support decision-making and societal acceptance.

INCLUE: an interdisciplinary project and a truly intersectoral and international consortium

INCLUE RESEARCH FOCUS

WP1

Upgrading sludge properties via innovative treatment processes

WP2

Renewable chemicals and fuels production via augmented sludge bioconversion

WP3

Eco-Impact Assessment

News & Blog

Tiago Martins Secondment at WatchFrog to Investigate the Effect of Electrowinning on Sludge Toxicity

Tiago Martins (DC3) Begins Secondment at WatchFrog to Investigate the Effect of Electrowinning on Sludge Toxicity

July 1, 2025

Tiago Martins, our DC3 PhD candidate from KU Leuven and Nijhuis Saur Industries, has officially started the first part of his secondment at WatchFrog, a leading biotechnology company specialising in endocrine disruption testing. This marks a significant step in his research on the sustainable treatment of sludge. Building on his expertise in electrochemical sludge treatment, Tiago’s secondment will focus on evaluating how electrowinning— the technique he is using to extract metals—affects the endocrine-disrupting potential and toxicity of various sludge types. By using WatchFrog’s advanced bioassays, XETA (Xenopus Eleutheroembryonic Thyroid Assay)

Communicating LCA Beyond the Lab: My Seminar Presentation Experience at KU Leuven

June 30, 2025

Pursuing a PhD is a journey filled with extremes—enriching, demanding, overwhelming, and rewarding—sometimes all in ONE single day! In late June 2025, shortly after passing my 9-month progress meeting, I had the opportunity to present my research at the PETLab seminar, a monthly session at KU Leuven’s De Nayer campus that brings together professors, postdocs, and PhD researchers—mainly from chemical engineering, but open to researchers from all backgrounds. For PhD candidates like me, communicating research to an audience beyond supervisors and peers is a crucial skill, and I

Exploring the Fate of Micropollutants in Thermal Hydrolysis of Sludge – Hosting a visit to TU Delft WaterLab during WaterMicro 2025

June 20, 2025

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

First Steps, Big Ideas: Presenting My PhD Work at the FMA Section Talks

June 19, 2025

Time truly flies when you’re immersed in exciting science. I recently had the opportunity to give my first-ever presentation as a PhD student, and I couldn’t have asked for a more encouraging setting than the Functional Molecular Assembly (FMA) section talks, an annual internal event at the University of Glasgow that brings together researchers working on advanced functional materials and molecular systems. As a doctoral candidate (DC11) in the INCLUE project, my research in the Peveler Group focuses on developing holistic sensing strategies for pollutants and ecotoxicity in treated sludge.

The Nose Knows – How Sensing Shapes Science

June 16, 2025

On Sunday, 27 April 2025, the University of Glasgow’s Doctoral Researcher Nitin Kumar (DC11) contributed to Smelly Sunday, a public engagement event held at Edward House on Sauchiehall Street as part of the “Not to Be Sniffed At” exhibition. Supported by the UKRI Guarantee Fund and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the event invited visitors to explore the intersection of scent, memory, and science through interactive activities designed by researchers. Kumar demonstrated the chemistry of olfactory perception, captivating a diverse audience eager to explore how smells shape our understanding of

Between Posters and Cliffs: Notes from a PhD’s First Conference

June 6, 2025

As I write my first blog post, I’m sitting at the airport, waiting to board my flight back to Belgium after an intense and inspiring week. At the end of May, I had the opportunity to attend The 5th International Conference on Biogas Microbiology (ICBM5) in Galway, Ireland – my very first scientific conference as a PhD researcher. I proudly represented the INCLUE project by exhibiting my first doctoral research poster, titled “Stimulation of Diuron anaerobic biodegradation: insights from semi-continuous adaptation”. It showcased some early findings from the first, major