Regenerated Reverse Osmosis Membranes. A Sustainable and Circular Commitment
Regenerated Reverse Osmosis Membranes. ECOMEMB joins forces with the public company Ens d’Abastament d’Aigua Ter-Llobregat (ATL) to promote sustainable models for the use and management of reverse osmosis membranes.
The public company Abastecimiento de Agua Ter Llobregat (ATL), dedicated to the purification and distribution of drinking water in bulk to more than 5.5 million inhabitants in Barcelona and 10 other districts of the metropolitan area, is committed to the comprehensive sustainability of the reverse osmosis process, which includes efficient management of membranes at the end of their useful life for their particular process.
ATL supported the regenerated reverse osmosis membrane initiative from the outset through a collaboration agreement with the LEQUIA group at UdG. Since 2019, they have donated membranes to ongoing research projects in order to apply and validate regeneration protocols and subsequently validate the behaviour of regenerated membranes in industrial processes requiring high pressure.
Now that the alternative is already on the market, a strategic alliance has been established with Ecomemb to identify membranes suitable for regeneration and reuse in osmosis processes, thus minimising the disposal of membranes to landfill.
Partial text of the article Regenerated Reverse Osmosis Membranes. A Sustainable and
Circular Commitment published in the journal RETEMA (May-June 2025, pp. 186-187)
Likewise, Fernando Valero Cervera, Head of R&D&I and Process Control at ATL, during his participation in the round table at the Circular Management of Membranes for Water Treatment Conference held on 18 June 2025, within the framework of the OSMO4LIVES project (LEQUIA, Universitat de Girona), expressed his views on regenerated reverse osmosis membranes as a sustainable and circular commitment.
Key messages from Fernando Valero in his intervention:
- ATL has more than 25,000 reverse osmosis membranes installed in Catalonia between the IDAM del Prat and IDAM la Tordera and plans to increase its desalination capacity in the coming years.
- They have been collaborating with Ecomemb and the Universitat de Girona to extend the useful life of their membranes for several years.
- The fact that more efficient membranes can be obtained from manufacturers and that membranes can be regenerated and reused, in the same processes or in other industrial processes, is a major step forward.
Here you have available a summary of his presentation at the Conference on Circular Management of Membranes for Water Treatment held in June 2025: video
Other Highlighted News:
- Don’t you know yet what Ecomemb does? enllaç
- · Regenerated Reverse Osmosis Membranes. A Sustainable and Circular Commitment. Source: RETEMA link
- Ecomemb, a reverse osmosis membrane regeneration company, awarded at the National Research Awards. Source: ATL link
- Success stories of Ecomembranes in industry: link
- What is reverse osmosis membrane regeneration? Source: Aguas Residuales link
- Workshop on Circular Management of Membranes for Water Treatment: link
