SERPIC will develop an integral technology, based on a multi-barrier approach, to treat the effluents of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to maximise the reduction of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). A membrane nanofiltration (NF) technology will be applied to reduce CECs in its permeate stream by at least 90 % while retaining the nutrients. A residual disinfection using chlorine dioxide produced electrochemically will be added to the stream used for crops irrigation (Route A).

Although microplastics (MP) are recognized as an emerging contaminant in the environment, currently neither sampling, extraction, purification nor identification approaches are standardized, making the increasing numbers of MP studies hardly ‐if at all‐ comparable. The overall goal of this interdisciplinary and international collaborative research project, is to overcome this problem through a profound and detailed comparison and evaluation of all approaches from sampling to identification of MP.