ACCIONA is participating in the EFLUCOMP project through its Water Division with the aim of developing innovative systems for the treatment of industrial effluents of a complex nature.
The project, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union within the framework of the ERDF Operational Programme for Catalonia 2014-2020, consists of four areas of study according to the complex nature of the water to be treated.
Specifically, ACCIONA is heading the research and development efforts into technologies for the treatment of currents with a high metal content, in which the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) and the company Aplicacions de la Catàlisi, S.L. (APLICAT) are also taking part.
The dissolved air flotation (DAF) system proposed by ACCIONA has shown itself to be very efficient in the selective separation of the predominant metal present in the water treated
To achieve the desired result, a system has been proposed that combines processes of flotation, precipitation and absorption of metals, with ACCIONA developing the flotation technologies and URV/APLICAT those of precipitation and absorption. A decision support tool has also been designed for the selection of the most suitable treatment train according to the quality requirements for the product water; this will guarantee the robustness of the system when treating highly variable waters.
The experimentation process, initially carried out in the laboratory, was recently completed with the demonstration of the process in a semi-industrial pilot plant, treating water from the metal sector.
The results obtained are very satisfactory. The dissolved air flotation (DAF) system proposed by ACCIONA has shown itself to be very efficient in the selective separation of the predominant metal present in the water treated. The application offers competitive advantages against conventional treatment systems, such as a 20%+ reduction in costs related to reagents, which involves a major reduction in OPEX. The sub-products and currents generated also show potential for re-use in associated industrial processes, helping to create more sustainable processes that fit in better to the principles of the circular economy.
