Funding for membrane wastewater venture
Horizon 2020 is backing a project to realise advantages in wastewater reuse by developing a water treatment system that combines biological treatment with membrane technology.
The €2.3m ‘Eco-friendly ceramic membrane bioreactor (MBR) based on recycled agricultural and industrial wastes for waste water reuse’, or REMEB, project results from research in the field of low cost recycled ceramic membranes. The venture aims to develop and validate a full scale MBR with inorganic membranes made from waste ceramic and from agroindustrial processes that are currently not utilised in similar procedures for wastewater reuse.
The European Commission is supporting the project with €1.8m that aims to respond to the social challenges linked to climate change and the environment. The project is co-ordinated by the Sociedad de Fomento Agricola Castellonense in Spain and ten other partners from six further countries are involved.
According to the co-ordinator, as there are no references to commercial organic membranes made from waste, the project represents “an interesting challenge in the field of research and technology, mainly for its economic, industrial and social impact”. In particular, the project aims to reduce the manufacturing cost of the membranes (no longer implemented due to high cost) and thus “open new doors for research in the field of water reuse”.
Validation of the MBR will be held at the water treatment plant in Aledo, Murcia in Spain. The innovation action runs until 2018.
