Conclusion of the event 05/06 – May – 2021: INGEOBRAS & FILTRALITE: The NEED for Sustainable Clean Water
Last 05th and 06th May 2021 took place the event “INGEOBRAS & FILTRALITE: The NEED for sustainable clean water” whose main objective was to present innovative technologies for sustainable water treatment.
This event was organised in two phases:
- 05 – May – 2021 : Online Conference
- 06 – May – 2021 : Open Day at the Ingeobras Research & Development Centre
Online Conference
An online conference was held on 05 May 2021. It consisted of two strategic sessions conducted by different speakers and focused exclusively on the water sector. The main topics addressed were: The importance of cost-effective, efficient and sustainable innovative solutions in drinking and wastewater treatment, the Agri-Food Industry, ANAERGY results, energy, water and CO2 reduction in a drinking water treatment plant, current situation and the future of the Industry.
Mr. Joaquín Murría, CEO of Ingeobras conducted the first session of the day. He began by highlighting the importance from an economic and social point of view of creating alternative solutions with lower OPEX and CAPEX than the traditional solutions found on the market. n addition, as a practical example of what it means to invest in R&D, he reviewed the history of Ingeobras from its beginnings in 2005, as a company focused on traditional engineering, to become a pioneer in the development of water treatment technologies.
The company’s innovative activity has been endorsed by 8 seals of excellence and considered in March 2019 as an activity of general interest for its socio-economic impact and contribution to innovation.
That is why Ingeobras, with only 15 employees, has managed to be part of very relevant projects such as: Innowwide, The European Green Deal, CDTI project, Sensodes, OXI-TWIN project and beneficiary of an SME Instrument-Phase2 project called Anaergy.
For a technology to succeed, it must meet three mandatory requirements: Lower OPEX and CAPEX than market solutions and that it is environmentally responsible.
After an overview of all the technologies developed by Ingeobras, the last part of the session focused on the advances developed in Anaergy technology.
Anaergy is a disruptive technology for water treatment in the agri-food industry, extremely efficient, small and innovative. It is a technology capable of adapting to the real needs of each end user and of providing a viable solution for small and medium-sized industries in the agri-food sector.
Joaquín Murría stresses the importance of the fact that it is designed to be integrated into the production process and states that “It is completely flexible and 100% customisable for each user”. This is achieved because it is a modular system made up of two reactors, which can be customised to carry out different processes and thus optimise each type of water treatment.
Although the project initially focused solely on biological water treatment, Ingeobras has gone a step further by integrating other proprietary technologies developed in the system. This is a major step forward as it allows for exponential growth in the number of possible water treatment combinations.
Each end client, due to their specific conditions, will obtain the combination that best suits their matrix.
In this session the results of Anaergy’s pilot plant were also shared, which has been operational studying two types of industries: wineries and fruit juice industries. Throughout 6 months, Anaergy’s technical team has analysed two samples per day so that the results have all the guarantees and are reliable.
Carlos de Juan, product manager of Filtralite Iberia and LATAM was the main speaker at the second session. Filtralite ® is the brand of filter media that belongs to Saint-Gobain, a company with more than 350 years of experience in the sector and a turnover of 42,600 M€ in 2019. Saint-Gobain designs, produces and distributes materials and solutions for individual and collective well-being.
The first part of the session focused on giving an overview of Iberia’s investment context and relevant data on the current situation.
According to the data presented, the infrastructures of the Drinking and Waste Water Treatment Plants are inefficient due to their age and high operation and maintenance costs. In addition, the automation, sensorisation or digitalisation systems are deficient or practically non-existent.
To this situation we must add a population and industrial / agricultural pressure that generates complex water matrices to treat and seasonal problems (NH3 +, Fe, Mn … to which are added persistent problems of nitrates, As, conductivity and organic matter) that do not have efficient technologies to address them.
After presenting the challenges we face, solutions to these problems were presented. Carlos de Juan explained the benefits of FILTRALITE® PURE and the applications of this material for the removal of particulate solids and biological/chemical removal (NH 4, NO 3, As, Fe, Mn). As Joaquín Murría commented, this innovative solution is also designed to generate OPEX and CAPEX reductions with respect to the alternative and traditional solutions on the market, in addition it is not necessary to carry out civil works to carry it out.
FILTRALITE® PURE is a very effective material with high porosity, durability and resistance. Furthermore, depending on the water to be treated, it can be used as a single filter or as a dual filter.
Being the producers of the material, the interesting process from the moment the material is extracted until it is ready to be marketed was explained in detail.
The last part of the session was dedicated to practical examples of success stories and the benefits of using FILTRALITE® PURE in their processes, with energy and CO savings of more than 10% in DWTPs, increase of filtration runs by 3 times, improvement of filtration quality and reduction of operating costs.
Open day at the INGEOBRAS innovation and development centre
On 06 May 2021, an open day was held at the Ingeobras Innovation and Development Centre.
This centre develops innovative technologies for the water industry and responds to specific customer demands, creating customised solutions. Pilot plants are also carried out to demonstrate in a practical way that the solutions work.
A guided tour of the pilot plants, test lines and laboratory took place. In addition, after the visit there was a networking time among the participants.
We would like to thank all the participants for their interest in this event. Without a doubt, being part of the European Green Week 2021 has been a very rewarding and enriching experience.
