Research Areas

Sustainable Crop Production

Plant nutrients such as phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium contained in organic residues of agricultural production are highly valuable fertilizers. While either costly to produce or of limited availability, these nutrients can cause problematic nutrient surpluses in soil or water.

Fraunhofer Portugal AWAM will investigate process technologies that utilize manure and fermentation products to convert these substances into:

> Transportable and storable fertilizers;

> High quality products with defined properties; 

> Agriculturally usable irrigation or fertirrigation water.

Water Treatment

Fraunhofer Portugal AWAM will concentrate on recovery technologies for water and waste water to be reutilized in industrial and agricultural production in the specific context of the increasing pressure on water resources, and to reduce organic inputs into waterbodies. Enabling technologies are: 

> Inorganic membranes;

> Electrochemical treatment methods;

> Efficient advanced oxidation processes;

> Process-integrated water quality monitoring.

These approaches will be pursued by the center in order to create adjusted solutions in partnership with innovative Portuguese companies. 

Bioenergy

Manure and fermentation products also carry energetic potential which can be unlocked with advanced processing technology. Hence, biomass energy will be one of the foci of the center including research in the areas of: 

> Biogas treatment;

> Bio methane production;

> CO₂ separation;

> Energy storage;

> Electrification, automation.