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Spanish university offers a wastewater treatment installation in small towns.

Summary

Profile Type
  • Technology offer
POD Reference
TOES20250220019
Term of Validity
21 February 2025 - 21 February 2026
Company's Country
  • Spain
Type of partnership
  • Commercial agreement with technical assistance
  • Research and development cooperation agreement
Targeted Countries
  • All countries
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General information

Short Summary
Researchers of a Spanish university have developed an installation for the purification of wastewater in small towns, offering an economic and environmental solution, with multiple advantages. In Spain, 47% of the municipalities have less than 500 inhabitants, the possible beneficiaries of this technology.

They are looking for commercial agreement with technical assistance and/or research and development cooperation agreement.
Full Description
The research group is composed by all the professors and researchers of Chemical Engineering at this Spanish university. This group aims to apply the foundations of Chemical Engineering to address various challenges of the modern food industry.

The installation of the wastewater treatment plant can be adapted to the problems of small towns in the national territory. It is of simple construction and ease of installation; it does not need electricity consumption for its operation; and it has very low maintenance costs. In addition, it offers the possibility of using the biogas generated. In particular, the multi-stage installation, four successive stages connected in series, allows a considerable improvement in the physical-chemical quality of the water treated in the installation.

The wastewater treatment installation is based on the use of multi-stage hybrid anaerobic reactors, made up of four successive stages connected in series, where the first three of these successive stages are configured as a hybrid anaerobic reactor, the last stage operating as a decanter. The latter favors the retention of particles that can escape from the first three stages, improving the quality of the treated water. In addition to the economic advantages, it allows to obtain an efficient wastewater treatment system, with high performance of the physical-chemical quality of the treated water and very little sludge production.

Potential applications of the installation are as follow:
• Wastewater treatment in small population centers.
• Economically efficient wastewater treatment.
• High physical-chemical quality of the treated water.
Advantages and Innovations
• This wastewater treatment plant develops the biological activity of microorganisms, achieving higher percentages of organic matter reduction, in addition to retaining non-sedimentable solids.
• Compared to aerobic systems, the growth rate of anaerobic microorganisms is lower than the growth rate of aerobic microorganisms, which translates into less sludge production, prolonging the operating period of the installation without the need for purge sludge to prevent its collapse.
• The use of anaerobic digestion avoids the need to aerate the water with blowers or air pumps.
• Anaerobic digestion allows organic matter to be converted into biogas, a renewable energy source that can be used to generate energy in the form of heat or electricity.
• Ease of construction.
• A pumping system is not necessary to circulate the water from one stage to another, but the natural unevenness of the terrain is used.
Stage of Development
  • Available for demonstration
Sustainable Development Goals
  • Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
IPR status
  • IPR granted

Partner Sought

Expected Role of a Partner
The type of partner is basic chemical companies, other industries, and/or public institutions.

Role of the partner: installation of a wastewater treatment plant.
Type and Size of Partner
  • SME <=10
  • SME 50 - 249
  • Other
  • SME 11-49
  • Big company
Type of partnership
  • Commercial agreement with technical assistance
  • Research and development cooperation agreement

Dissemination

Technology keywords
  • 010002009 - Water Pollution / Treatment
  • 10002007 - Environmental Engineering / Technology
  • 10004008 - Water Resources Management
  • 10004002 - Municipal Water Treatment
  • 10004003 - Wastewater Recycling
Market keywords
  • 08004003 - Water treatment equipment and waste disposal systems
  • 08004004 - Other pollution and recycling related
Targeted countries
  • All countries