Deep Tech for water treatment

Water is the driving force of all nature and still we don’t seem to appreciate it enough in our society. Much more needs to be done to counter environmental degradation and water treatment wich can be ensured through innovative technology. On April 8th we held the secpho webinar “Deep Tech for water treatment” where we had the chance to discover new solutions for water treatment from the experience shared by innovative companies such as Leitat, Sorigué, European Business Technology Centre, Sixsenso (ICFO) and Eurecat.

Clara Corbella, Civil Engineer at LEITAT explained in her speech “Innovative Natural Wastewater Treatment Systems” that natural ecosystems have been used for wastewater treatment for centuries.however it was during the second part of the 20^th century when these natural ecosystem have been used in artificially built treatments systems. And Corbella focused on horitzontal surface constracted wetlands.

Beatriz Corzo García, R&D Projects Manager at Sorigué started her presentation “Innovation in the water cycle” by highlighting the strategic lines of Sorigué in sustainability: Water Reuse, Energy Efficiecny and Waste transformation into added value products. Corzo explained Innovation Projects, like LOW-E Project Sea water, that will bring sustainable desalination to reach Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD). This project uses the following technologies: Capacitive Deionization (CDI + Graphene Electrode and also a Thermal desalination 4.0.

In terms of Water Reuse, Corzo outlined the “Whater Harmony Project” (in collaboration with Leitat) that focuses in closing the water cycle Gap with Harmonised Actions for Sustainable Management of Water Resources. Another project is is developing a Nanofiber Membrane that will remove microplastics meanwhile a Functionalized NF membrane will absorve heavy metals, pesticides and pharmaceuticals. After this process, the water will be able to have another use, for example in agriculture. And the last project was “Beyound Waste project” (in collaboration with Tecnalia) that focuses in obtaining nanocellulose to apply in different industries from wastewater treatment plants.

Joel Fernandes, Project Lead Europe at European Business & Technology Centre introduced India as a growing market in infraestructure because in his speech “EU-India Business Collaborations in the Water Sector“. In the next 5 years, the indian government will invest a lot in infrastructe, by 2025 India will be the 3^rd largest consumer economy and nowadays is the 2^nd largest ecosystem. There is a need to make a cluster approach in order to adapt the European technologies to Indian necessities and context, and iniciatives like the India-EU Water Partnership have the objective to strenght technological, scientific and management capabilities of India and the EU in the field of water management on the basis of equality, reciprocity and mutual benefit. One of the key projects is Cleaning the Ganges River, and the second purpuose is to support involvement of EU business in the water sector.

Adrian J. Parker, Business Manager at Sixsenso (an spin-off from ICFO) explained in his speech “The next generation sensing platform form microorganism detection onsite of contamination” that the team is working on an on-site detection and fast decision making. It will be a modular platform that combines an application of specific biokits, software and data management.

Xavier Martinez Lladó, Director UT Water, Air and Soil at Eurecat explained in the presentation “The next generation of disinfection technologies” that UVCLed promises to be the new generation in water disinfection. And explained that If we irradiate microorganisms with light, UV is absorbed by DN, RNA and proteins in the molecules and it will avoid recplication of cell and avoid self repair mechanisms. Instead of using UV lights, wich are fragile, low wall-plug efficiency, contain mercury and have a short lifetime, they propose an UVC LED Disinfection lamp and detailed the operation of the Ultraviolet light emiting diodes, an emerging technology.

For those who did not have the opportunity to attend, you can retrieve it in the following videos:

1. Introduction to the webinar. Sergio Sáez, cluster manager | secpho