INGEOBRAS: Innovative company highlighted by the international magazine Go Aragón for its contribution to the development of Aragón.
On June 7, 2023, the international magazine Go Aragón published an article highlighting the activity of INGEOBRAS, together with the Inngen.io and BIOBOX brands. The company has been highlighted for its innovative approach and intentional projection, in addition to a global recognition of INGEOBRAS’ contribution to the development of Aragon.
Special thanks to Marcos Diaz for this article:
“Ingeobras, the Aragonese firm at the leading edge of water technologies” Go Aragón
The company’s innovation activity already has eight seals of excellence awarded by the European Commission and the Spanish Government considers its activity to be of General Interest. It has also carried out other important projects, such as the transformation of 25,000 hectares in Azerbaijan into irrigated land in the last 8 years, including the largest irrigation system in Europe executed in a single project.
Generating green hydrogen from wastewater without consuming a single drop of water, a biological technology for the elimination of nitrates, the creation of pharmaceutical factories, innovative municipal wastewater treatment plants and other projects are a sample of the work developed by Ingeobras. Thanks to its work, this Aragonese company has already accumulated eight European Commission seals of excellence in R&D projects and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism considers its activity of general interest due to its socioeconomic impact and contribution to technological innovation.
“With prefabricated plants of our own technology we are mainly in three areas: Spain and Portugal, Chile and starting in the United States, but as engineering we reach many other places like Azerbaijan, Uganda or Great Britain.”
Joaquín murría – CEO of INGEOBRAS
Thus, what began in 2005 as a traditional engineering SME, over the years has been gaining international vocation and innovative zeal.
It was after the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti when Ingeobras began its journey outside national borders. In the Caribbean country it built a hospital that was the first work outside Spain as a “turnkey” project. “Since then, more than 200 have been carried out in twenty countries,” he says.
Initiatives such as, for example, the transformation of 25,000 hectares in Azerbaijan into irrigated land in the last 8 years, including the largest irrigation project in Europe implemented in a single project.
In terms of innovation, its path began about a decade ago, when it joined Zinnae, the cluster for the efficient use of water. From there, this commitment to R&D found “a turning point” in 2019, when the European Union awarded them in competitive concurrence with Anaergy, a project funded by the EU SME program H2020 SME Instrument Phase 2 (now called Accelerator)
Ingeobras obtains the Aragón Circular Seal
At its facilities at the European Business and Innovation Center of Aragon (CEEI Aragon), in addition to the activity associated with this project,
“New technologies for water treatment and energy generation from wastewater are developed, validated and demonstrated, depending on the level of technological maturity.”
says Sofía Quintana, head of marketing, communication and new markets at Ingeobras.
The result of its work is the recognition, in 2021, of its technology for the generation of biological green hydrogen from wastewater, which Ecodes selected as one of the 101 business examples for the climate for being the only green hydrogen generation technology that does not consume water. The following year, the regional government itself selected the company in the first call for the Aragón Circular seal, whose mission is to show public certification of the commitment to the circular economy model.
All this development led to the company’s decision to create a new brand for the R&D business line, Ingenn.io, focused exclusively on innovation and R&D.
Now, works such as the recently built wastewater treatment plant in Torrent (Valencia), the nitrogen and phosphorus elimination plant in a mining operation in Ecuador or the subway building built for the aging of wines at Bodegas San Alejandro (Cariñena), are some of the examples of his work.
BIOBOX: Bacteria for nitrate removal
Ingeobras uses its technologies in the BIOBOX brand, under which it markets as a finished product the fruit of all its technological development, and specializes in the creation and commissioning of fully automated prefabricated and compact wastewater treatment plants.
In this regard, the company explains that each solution is designed “tailor-made”, especially for small and medium-sized flows, since the BIOBOX approach “is based on making advanced technology available to all types of companies”, all this “in the smallest possible space and without the need for personnel operating continuously in the plant”.
The company’s equipment, therefore, is offered in prefabricated format, in container or ‘skid’, to occupy the smallest possible space, something that reduces investment costs, manufacturing time and inconvenience to the customer. “Although, if necessary, special executions can also be developed, adapting to specific requirements or to existing installations,” Murría emphasizes.
Thus, the company offers plants with its own technology for the treatment of water containing nitrates, but also those affected by other pollutants such as iron and manganese, ammonium, phosphorus, organic matter and heavy metals. However, denitrification stands out because of the urgency of a problem present “all over the world”.
In Spain, for example, it is located in the Mar Menor, in Murcia, an area particularly affected by nitrates. There, BIOBOX has carried out a pilot experiment that has demonstrated a 97% elimination rate.
For this treatment, the company uses bacteria – completely safe – that remove nitrates and, in doing so, emit nitrogen into the atmosphere. This is an advantage over the reverse osmosis method, they say, because it separates the water from the contaminant, but does not eliminate it. Finally, the treated water is exposed to ultraviolet lamps and other protective equipment to disinfect it completely.
In December 2021, BIOBOX also installed a pilot plant to demonstrate the efficiency of its Ammonium technology at the Pelayos de la Presa DWTP, one of the plants managed by Canal de Isabel II, the Spanish public company that manages the integral water cycle in almost the entire Community of Madrid. In this case, system efficiency ranged from 90 to 100%.
In addition, the company has real success stories in different parts of the world, such as the biological denitrification plants in Calaf, Formiche Alto, Falset, La Eliana and the aforementioned plants in Ecuador and Torrent.
Thank you very much Go Aragón for this article! We will continue working to add value and contribute to the growth and development of our community, Aragon.
Link to the original article in the Go Aragón magazine: https://www.goaragon.es/ingeobras-la-firma-aragonesa-en-la-vanguardia-de-las-tecnologias-del-agua/
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