At the heart of the NEWater project — which aims to design natural-based and low-energy water systems for reuse, nutrient recovery, and green hydrogen production — sits a crucial question: how do we make these solutions environmentally sound, socially acceptable, and economically feasible?
That’s exactly what the Modelling and Sustainability Team at Sapienza University of Rome is tackling.
Sapienza’s role in NEWater
Sapienza leads Work Package 5 – “Modelling, Social & Economic Benefit”, the analytical backbone of the entire project. Their mission is to evaluate the technical performance, economic viability, and social acceptance of each NEWater technology demonstrated in the four pilot labs across Europe and Israel.
Using data generated by the partners in Porto, Potenza, Girona and the Negev, Sapienza’s researchers develop:
- Integrated process models that simulate treatment performance and predict optimal operating conditions for nature-based and hybrid systems.
- Techno-economic assessments (TEA) and life-cycle analyses (LCA) to determine the real costs, environmental benefits and carbon footprint reductions achieved by NEWater’s solutions.
- Social life-cycle assessments (S-LCA) and stakeholder analyses to evaluate social impacts, public perception, and market readiness — ensuring innovations are not only efficient but accepted by communities and regulators.
The team behind the models
- Prof. Antonio Zuorro, coordinator for Sapienza and WP5 leader, brings his expertise in sustainable process design and resource recovery from agro-industrial residues.
- Prof. Roberto Lavecchia, responsible for process simulation and quality management within NEWater, oversees model integration and consistency across labs.
- PhD candidate Loveille Jun Gonzaga develops the methodological framework for coupling laboratory performance data with sustainability indicators.
- PhD candidate Michael Edgardo Pérez Roa focuses on techno-economic modelling of novel, low-energy treatment schemes, bridging lab data with cost-benefit projections.
Turning data into decisions
Through WP5, Sapienza transforms experimental results from NEWater Labs 1–4 into actionable insights for decision-makers. Their models allow partners to compare treatment options based on:
- Water-quality improvements and contaminant removal,
- Energy and operational costs,
- Environmental footprints (CO₂, energy intensity), and
- Social acceptance indicators.
The ultimate goal is to provide holistic decision-support tools that help policy-makers, municipalities, and industries choose the most efficient and sustainable water-reuse configurations for their specific regional needs.
Why it matters
By integrating technical, economic and social dimensions, Sapienza ensures NEWater’s innovative technologies — from wastewater-to-hydrogen systems to greywater reuse for edible crops — can move beyond the lab and into real-world application.
This modelling and sustainability perspective is what turns promising prototypes into replicable, market-ready solutions for Europe’s transition toward a water-smart and circular economy.