Integration and optimization of water, energy and material flows to achieve sustainable urban solutions

The flows of water, energy and materials have a large potential to contribute to sustainable solutions in the city. The research focuses on the transition from a linear metabolism to a circular metabolism in cities to contribute to the realization of a circular economy in cities in which waste and emissions do not longer exist.

Up till now, water, energy and materials are often considered as non-renewables resulting in emissions to soil, water and air. However, by reuse, recycling and/or conservation of these flows a circular metabolism is created and emissions to soil, water and air can be reduced or prevented.

In this research, urban water is the starting point. Urban water is defined as drinking water, storm water and wastewater. Water is the starting point in this research because it offers excellent possibilities to close the watercycle and reuse urban water, to recover energy from urban water, and to recover and reuse materials from urban water.

Concepts to realize an urban metabolism with water as starting point have been proposed and tested both on centralized scale and on decentralized scale. The choice between centralized and decentralized concepts depends amongst others on local circumstances, on the materials aimed at to recover and reuse, on financial and environmental considerations, and also on the preferences of the stakeholders involved. Whether centralized or decentralized, four main topics require special attention and up till now these aspects have not been considered in an integrated approach.

1. Water transport systems: the integration of water, energy and material flows in an urban metabolism system results in quality and quantity characteristics of urban water flows, different from the present ones. This requires new and innovative water transport systems.
2. Smart water technologies: recovery of water, energy and materials from urban water flows requires new and innovative technologies, capable to recover these compounds economically and effectively.
3. Smart water control: integration of water, energy and material flows requires new and innovative operation and control systems. Especially in the case of decentralized systems, traditional monitoring is much too expensive and new monitoring and sensoring strategies are required. Closing loops in the urban water cycle introduces new (human health) risks. To manage these risks smart water control systems have to be developed based on new and innovative monitoring and sensoring strategies.
4. Sustainable system integration: although water is chosen as staring point in this research, a sustainable system integration is a prerequisite to make the water harvesting successful and to make a contribution to the concept of the circular city. Up till now water, materials and energy are quite separated domains. System innovations are required to realize the integrated approach.

The research is carried out in the framework of the position of Prof. Jan Peter van der Hoek as Principal Investigator at the AMS Institute. AMS (www.amsinstitute.org) is the institute in Amsterdam, founded in 2014 and supported by the City of Amsterdam, in which Technische Universiteit Delft, Wageningen University Research and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, together with partners from the public and private sector, work on three specific themes: Circular City – Vital City – Connected City.

Project partners
TU Delft, Amsterdam Intitute of Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS)

Funded by
TU Delft, Amsterdam Intitute of Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS)

Project coordinator
Jan Peter van der Hoek

Period
2016-2018