The Antony Centre
The Antony Centre is one of Irstea’s nine regional centres. The centre’s research teams are highly skilled in the fields of inland waters and wastewater, waste management, refrigeration process engineering and the safety and efficiency of agricultural equipment.
Evidence of this is its management of the Biorare project, one of five projects selected for the “Biotechnologies and Bioresources” national request for proposals for the Invest for the Future programme. This success bolsters the recognition gained from the State-Region projects contract for bioprocesses (LABE laboratory). The centre is also involved in the AdvanCity competitive cluster on city planning and sustainable mobility. It is a member of two “Major Interest Areas” backed by the regional authority (sustainable development research networks and Astréa – agricultural sciences and resource management) and participates in the living organisms and environmental science and technologies cluster. Since 2010, the Antony centre has been coordinating the EU Frisbee project (on the cold chain of the future). Its contribution to the benchmarking project on eco-purifying plants run by the Île-de-France Region and the Seine-Normandy Water Agency demonstrates its commitment to working alongside public decision-makers.
► Students working at the Antony Centre submitted 9 theses in 2010. |
Research Focus
Reliable modelling of purification plants
Building models of wastewater purification plants represents a considerable challenge for local authorities as choosing the type and settings for models is highly complex. The thesis by Hélène Hauduc, who works at Antony, presents an overview of the world’s seven most commonly used activated sludge models (known as bio-kinetic models) in order to help plant managers determine the dimensions of their facility, guide the processes and rectify flaws. The thesis also presents ways of overcoming obstacles by referring more generally to the operating models of biological purification plants.
A model-making guide
This work reflects the significant progress made by Irstea on the use of models to represent purification plant functions to test different scenarios. It is a summary of the existing knowledge on the matter and was compiled by a task force from the IWA (International Water Association) which featured the active participation of Irstea’s Sylvie Gillot. This reference document sets out the five stages of model-making that can be relied upon in all scenarios.
Research Topics
- Hazards linked to the water cycle (ARCEAU)
- Biological and ecological responses to contamination of the aquatic environment. Ecotoxicology and bioindication (BELCA)
- Technological innovations through science for engineers working in sustainable agriculture and the environment (INSPIRE)
- Quality of aquatic systems and ecological regeneration (QUASARE)
- Structures, processes, flow, energy (SPEE)
- Water and waste technology and procedures (TED)
Research Units
- Technology for agricultural equipment safety and performance (TSAN)
- River systems and bioprocesses (HBAN)
- Refrigeration process engineering (GPAN)
Organisation
.png)
