Circular membrane management for water treatment

About the Workshop

Workshop on the circular management of membranes for water treatment. The event, held on June 18, was organized by the LEQUIA de la Universitat de Girona and the spinoff Ecomemb.

The increase in desalination plants worldwide has put the focus on the management of one of their waste products: reverse osmosis membranes. These membranes are made of filtering plastic material that, once they reach the end of their useful life, are deposited in landfills or incinerated. It is expected that by 2025 the quantity will rise to more than one and a half million membranes.

The conference organized by the LEQUIA research group of the University of Girona (UdG) and the company Ecomemb S.L disseminated technological and management solutions to address this challenge. Focused on the results of the UdG’s Osmo4Lives project (2022-2025), it also brought together researchers from other entities and the different actors involved in the manufacture, use and management of osmotic membranes for water treatment. The event took place on June 18 at the UdG Research and Innovation Hub.

The program

The program was structured in three blocks. In the first, the latest technological advances in membrane regeneration and reuse were presented.

Gaëtan Blandin and Bianca Zappulla (LEQUIA, University of Girona) summarized the advances in membrane regeneration through physicochemical treatments achieved with the OsmoLives project.
Mohamed Khayet (Complutense University of Madrid and IMDEA Agua) detailed the results of different previous national and European projects in this same field.
Jorge Senán-Salinas (BETA, University of Vic) spoke about the reduction of environmental impacts achieved with regeneration and its quantification through life cycle analysis.
Zulema Rojas from Sorigué presented the results of an innovation project to recycle discarded membranes as fuel.

In the second block, several industrial experiences of regeneration and reuse of regenerated membranes were presented.

Raquel García-Pacheco explained the success story of Ecomemb, the spinoff of UdG and the Catalan Water Research Institute (ICRA). Ecomemb is the first European company specialized in the regeneration of reverse osmosis membranes for reuse at the original facilities or by third parties.
Nicolás Urgoiti (EMASA) presented a reuse experience at the same original facility, using 80 of their own membranes regenerated by Ecomemb and validated for reuse at the ETAP Atabal water treatment plant.
Ignacio Sanguino (SAICA) spoke about the successful reuse of more than 100 regenerated membranes in the paper industry (different origin from the first useful life of the membranes).
Nacho Palacios (Agua e Industria) compared the use of new membranes and regenerated membranes in water treatment plants in the chemical sector and mining.

Finally, a round table moderated by Xavier Guillem (Ecomemb) brought together representatives from membrane manufacturing companies (Guillem Gilabert-Oriol, Dupont); suppliers of discarded membranes from desalination plants (Fernando Valero, ATL); and companies using regenerated membranes (Jordi Gabarró from TELWESA and Tomàs Agulló from Infinitum).

The exchange of knowledge and experiences highlighted the need to adopt multiple strategies and technological solutions to manage reverse osmosis membranes by applying the principles of sustainability and circular economy. It also evidenced the need for collaboration between manufacturers, users, regenerating companies and academic institutions.

Technology transfer success story

The organizers – researcher Gaëtan Blandin from the LEQUIA group at the University of Girona and Ecomemb S.L. CEO Raquel García Pacheco – valued very positively the interest generated by the conference, with more than 70 people, mostly from companies and entities in the water sector. In this regard, Silvia Simón (delegate of the UdG rector for promotion and dissemination), Claudia Fontàs (director of the UdG Water Campus) and Marilós Balaguer (director of LEQUIA) highlighted the successful transfer of membrane regeneration technology that has resulted in the creation of Ecomemb S.L., recently recognized by the National Innovation Award of the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation.