ICHEAP17, 17th International Conference on CHEMICAL AND PROCESS ENGINEERING

ICHEAP 2025 – Oral Presentation on Glucose Recovery from Cellulosic Sludge
29 June -2 July 2025, Florence, Italy.

This year at ICHEAP (International Conference on Chemical and Process Engineering), I had the pleasure of giving an oral presentation on our recent work focused on the recovery of glucose from cellulose-rich sludge, generated in municipal wastewater treatment plants.

Our study explores how a smart pre-filtration strategy, combined with enzymatic hydrolysis, can effectively valorize the cellulosic fraction of primary sludge and produce fermentable sugars. This represents a promising route within the circular economy, enabling the production of valuable biochemicals such as volatile fatty acids (VFAs) or bioplastics (PHAs).

The research highlights a comparison between traditional sludge handling and an innovative, resource-oriented approach aimed at maximizing glucose yield while improving the overall sustainability of wastewater treatment processes. Moreover, cellulose filtration reduces the organic load that would otherwise be directed into the plant’s biological process. This means that cellulose sludge filtration leads to a reduction in energy consumption in the wastewater treatment plant.

This event was as an opportunity to exchange up-to-the minute information on industrial needs, new technology developments and research opportunities.
The previous events attracted leading Industrialists and Academics from all over the world and provided a state of the art on Chemical and Process Engineering.