The project

  • What are the challenges?

    Europe’s urban water systems face growing pressures from climate change, water scarcity, population growth, and ageing infrastructure. Conventional centralised wastewater treatment lacks flexibility to handle extreme weather, rising energy demand, and circular resource needs. Decentralised solutions enabling on-site water management, local recycling, and resource recovery, integrated with centralised systems in urban areas, ensure sustainable, efficient water services that meet demand, quality standards, and energy goals. Such approaches advance circularity and sustainability across economic, social, technical, institutional, and environmental dimensions.

  • How NAMOR responds to these challenges

    NAMOR pioneers a hybrid photobioreactor (MPBR) merging microalgae–bacteria co-cultivation with advanced membrane filtration in a compact, modular system for flexible, decentralised water treatment. AI-powered digital twins, real-time sensing, and predictive analytics ensure optimal performance, reliability, and proactive maintenance. Retrofittable or standalone, the system transforms wastewater into reclaimed water, nutrients, and bioenergy, exemplifying how biotechnology and digital innovation drive a circular, low-carbon, resilient urban water cycle.

  • Deployment and impact across Europe

    NAMOR is implemented in three demo sites spanning southern, central, and northern Europe to test performance under diverse temperature and light conditions. The pilots will validate its technical, economic, environmental, and social performance, proving scalability and replicability. This integrated approach accelerates the adoption of decentralised, resource-efficient water management. It directly supports the EU Green Deal, Water Reuse Regulation, Zero Pollution Action Plan, and Circular Economy Strategy.

NAMOR Project

Goals

1

Develop a next-generation microalgae–membrane photobioreactor that enables decentralised, energy-efficient, and high-quality wastewater treatment, supporting water reuse, climate resilience, and circular resource recovery while facilitating its smart integration with existing centralised systems.

2

Integrate advanced digital technologies, including a real-time digital twin, IoT sensors, and AI-based Decision Support System, to enable predictive maintenance, adaptive process control, and data-driven optimisation of resource efficiency.

3

Validate NAMOR’s technical, environmental, and economic performance through demonstrations in three diverse European pilot sites, ensuring robustness, scalability, and interoperability between decentralised and centralised infrastructures under real climatic conditions.

4

Valorise the biomass and recovered resources—water, nutrients, and bioenergy—by converting them into bio-based products and renewable energy, thereby strengthening the circular and bio-based economy.

5

Advance social acceptance and behavioural change through inclusive co-creation and participatory approaches, ensuring that decentralised water reuse technologies and their integration into existing urban systems are understood, trusted, and embraced by citizens and stakeholders.

6

Establish data-driven sustainability metrics and life-cycle models to quantify environmental, social, and economic benefits, guiding evidence-based decision-making and policy integration at EU and local levels.

7

Foster market replication and policy alignment by developing viable business and governance models, analysing regulatory frameworks, and identifying pathways for the integrated deployment of decentralised–centralised hybrid systems at international scale and investment readiness.

8

Build long-term impact and knowledge transfer by creating a replicable digital–technical framework and sharing open-access data, tools, and best practices that can inspire future EU initiatives in sustainable urban water management.

How will NAMOR operate?

hybrid treatment system

Develop a compact hybrid treatment system that merges microalgae-bacteria co-cultivation with advanced membrane filtration, enabling efficient and sustainable treatment of diverse wastewater streams.

real-time digital twin model

Create a real-time digital twin model, enhanced by sensor networks and predictive analytics, to continuously monitor and optimize photobioreactor performance under varying environmental conditions.

AI-powered Decision Support System

Design an AI-powered Decision Support System (DSS) that improves energy efficiency, enhances treatment effectiveness, and maximizes water and nutrient recovery based on local needs.

Validate the system in three different climate zones

Validate the system in three different climate zones, demonstrating its reliability and adaptability across high, medium, and low temperature conditions in real-world settings.

Valorise the biomass produced

Valorise the biomass produced through nutrient and energy recovery, supporting circular economy principles and reducing environmental impact.

Study public perception and behaviour

Study public perception and behaviour towards decentralized water reuse, using participatory approaches to improve citizen acceptance and inform inclusive policy design.

Examine the policy, regulatory, and market landscape

Examine the policy, regulatory, and market landscape to identify barriers and opportunities for scaling NAMOR technologies in Europe and internationally.