Sludge treatment and management are complex and costly operations that cover 20-60% of the total operation cost of wastewater treatment plants. After stabilization and dewatering, sludge is either sent to landfills, directly reused in agriculture/composted, or incinerated.

The valorisation of sludge as feedstock for the synthesis of renewable chemicals/polymers is still lacking but it would be valuable in terms of circular economy and reduction of fossil resources exploitation.

The CROSS-LIFE project proposes an integrated technology for sludge management oriented to the dual aim of decreasing the volume of sludge to be treated at end-of-life and exploiting the sludge as a feedstock to produce bio-based crotonic acid and its co-polymer poly(vinyl acetate-co-crotonic acid) instead of using fossil sources.

The CROSS-LIFE project (2022-2026) is funded under the LIFE-2021-SAP-ENV call.