The presence of nitrates in inland waters is one of the major environmental challenges for protecting aquatic ecosystems and improving water quality. Therefore, advancing technologies capable of reducing this pollutant load in a sustainable, efficient, and adaptable manner has become a priority for the water sector.
In this context, Facsa is committed to a combination of nature-based technologies for the denitrification of inland waters. The proposal received the highest rating among the 11 applications submitted in the first phase of RECUPERA, a pre-commercial public procurement tender for R&D services funded by the Centre for the Development of Technology and Innovation (CDTI) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in collaboration with the Region of Murcia, through its Ministry of the Environment, Universities, Research and the Mar Menor.
This result places the company among the four entities selected to execute sub-phase I.1 of the project, focused on the preliminary design, conceptual development, and initial validation of the solution on a small scale. During this first stage, Facsa will validate the pilot of the proposed solution at the Montornès del Vallès WWTP, managed by the Besòs Tordera Consortium, where the Urban River Lab open-air laboratory facilities are located.https://urbanriverlab.com/es/ The project also has the collaboration of the Eurecat technology center, which plays a prominent role in the implementation of the proposed innovations.
The solution leverages natural and biological processes to promote nitrate removal through a sustainable, robust system adaptable to various treatment scenarios. Furthermore, the pilot project will incorporate multiparameter monitoring to evaluate its performance and ensure the quality of the treated effluent.
The objective of this sub-phase is to validate a prototype capable of treating a significant flow rate in a representative environment, as a preliminary step to a subsequent scale-up that would reach a treatment capacity of around 1800 m³/d. Overall, the proposed solution aims to achieve nitrate removal efficiencies of at least 80%, with an operating cost of less than €0.3 per cubic meter treated.
For Facsa, participation in RECUPERA reinforces its position in the development of advanced solutions for sustainable water management and continues its experience in projects related to nitrate removal, such as LIFE SPOT, in which both the company and Eurecat participated in the validation of a very similar technology for the treatment of groundwater.
