Partial membrane replacement at ETAP del ATABAL desalination plant. Nicolás Urgoiti Moinot, Head of Drinking Water Treatment at EMASA, presents a case study on the partial replacement of membranes in one of the membrane racks at the ETAP del ATABAL (Málaga) desalination plant.

This desalination facility has been a pioneer on numerous occasions since beginning operations in 2005, being one of the world’s largest brackish water desalination plants of its time with energy recovery from brine.

Key Messages from Nicolás’s Presentation:

• Reuse of 78 regenerated reverse osmosis membranes supplied by Ecomemb and installed in the second stage of one of their membrane racks: 2 membranes out of 7 (29%), positioned in the first and second positions of each membrane element.

• No need to remove all membranes for the replacement procedure.

• Pressure reduction of at least 1 bar to produce the same water quality, resulting in energy cost savings of at least €4,800 over the 221-day trial period.

• Water quality remained within the operational limits established by the user.

Here you can find a summary of his presentation at the Conference on Circular Management of Water Treatment Membranes held in June 2025. video

Other Publications of Interest

Workshop on circular membranne management for water treatment: enlace

Success Stories of Ecomembranes in Industry: link

Don’t you know yet what Ecomemb does?: link

L'entrada Partial Membrane Replacement at ETAP del ATABAL Desalination Plant ha aparegut primer a REVERSE OSMOSIS MEMBRANES REGENERATION .

Ecomemb’s NEOTEC circular economy project funded by CDTI kicks off. Last December we received with great joy the final resolution of the NEOTEC 2025 Program from CDTI Innovación (project SNEO-20251171). Now it is a reality and the project has begun to take its first steps.

This call allows us to grow and incorporate talent to develop, over the next two years, internal projects focused on the circular economy. Our main objective is to develop innovative solutions within the framework of reverse osmosis membrane regeneration that will allow us to expand our commercial activity and improve the company’s production processes in terms of sustainability.

Do you want to work with us?

Contact info@ecomemb.com and we will tell you more about the available vacancy

One of the main global concerns focuses on achieving a shift from “linear” economic models, based on produce-consume-discard, to a circular economy, a new production and consumption paradigm that aims to optimize resources and minimize generated waste. Ecomemb was born with the aim of establishing itself as an important player within this new economic paradigm and bases its business model on the recovery of reverse osmosis membranes through proprietary and patented technology.

Ecomemb offers a regenerative solution for membrane technology. Regenerated membranes are already installed in numerous industrial applications within the food, paper, chemical, mining, and industrial and urban wastewater treatment sectors.

NEOTEC Grant

The NEOTEC Program supports the creation and consolidation of technology-based companies. A technology-based company (TBC) is a company whose activity focuses on the exploitation of products or services that require the use of technologies or knowledge developed from research activity. TBCs base their business strategy or activity on the intensive mastery of scientific and technical knowledge.

The most relevant aspect in the proposals supported under this line is the business strategy based on technology development (technology must be the competitive differentiation factor of the company), based on the creation of their own R&D&I lines.

More info here

Success stories of Ecomembranes in industry: enlace

About NEOTEC: enlace

Don’t you know yet what Ecomemb does? link

L'entrada Ecomemb’s NEOTEC circular economy project funded by CDTI kicks off ha aparegut primer a REVERSE OSMOSIS MEMBRANES REGENERATION .