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

L'entrada Regenerated Reverse Osmosis Membranes. A Sustainable and Circular Commitment ha aparegut primer a REVERSE OSMOSIS MEMBRANES REGENERATION .

Telwesa is a pioneer company in the reuse of regenerated membranes for landfill leachate treatment. The company began its operations when Ecomemb was still a research project, over seven years ago.

Jordi Gabarro Bartual, PhD, Managing Director of TELWESA, participated in the roundtable discussion at the conference held on June 18 on Circular Management of Water Treatment Membranes, within the framework of the OSMO4LIVES project (LEQUIA, University of Girona). Here are his key messages:

Here are his key messages:

• Telwesa was the first industrial company to trust the use of regenerated membranes for leachate treatment
• The company conducted an internal validation through two years of operation, observing that there is no difference in quality or performance compared to other membranes.
• Since then, they have extended the use of regenerated reverse osmosis membranes for leachate treatment operated by Telwesa and have begun their installation for water reuse applications in other industries.
• All partner companies that test regenerated membranes repeat their use because clients verify that they obtain the same water quality at significantly lower costs compared to using new membranes.

A summary of his presentation at the Conference on Circular Management of Water Treatment Membranes held in June 2025 is available here: video

Other Highlighted News:

• What is reverse osmosis membrane regeneration? Source: Aguas Residuales link

• Reverse osmosis water regeneration. Source: Telwesa: link

• Workshop on circular membranne management for water treatment: link
• Success Stories of Ecomembranes in Industry: link
• Don’t you know yet what Ecomemb does?: Link

L'entrada Reuse of Regenerated Membranes for Landfill Leachate Treatment. Telwesa, a Pioneer Company ha aparegut primer a REVERSE OSMOSIS MEMBRANES REGENERATION .

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 .

Opinion of Guillem Gilabert-Oriol (R&D in water treatment) from the company DuPont Water Solutions : A set of solutions must be applied to drive membrane technology towards the circular economy.

Guillem Gilabert-Oriol (R&D in water treatment) from the company DuPont Water Solutions , one of the largest membrane manufacturers, participated in the round table of the conference held on June 18, 2025 on Circular Management of Membranes for Water Treatment, within the framework of the OSMO4LIVES project ( LEQUIA, University of Girona ).

You can see a summary of their participation here.

Image of the round table speakers from left to right: Xavier Guillem (Ecomemb, moderator), Fernando Valero (ATL, supplier), Tomás Agulló (INFINITUM, user), Guillem Gilabert-Oriol (DUPONT, manufacturer), Jordi Gabarró (TELWESA, user).

His key messages were:

• DuPont focuses on minimizing the carbon footprint of membranes by producing durable, compact membranes with lower energy consumption and higher permeate quality.
• They work on predictive tools using operational data that help the user identify membrane fouling problems (Operations Advisor https://lnkd.in/dMzGXjut ).
• From Guillem’s point of view, in membrane technology, circularity involves a set of solutions: production of more efficient membranes, reconditioning and recycling.
• Concentrate valorization: new applications for membranes with the aim of recovering valuable compounds.

More info here

Workshop on circular membranne management for water treatment: enllaç

Success Stories of Ecomembranes in Industry: enllaç

About NEOTEC grant: enllaç

Don’t you know yet what Ecomemb does? link

L'entrada Production of more efficient membranes, membrane reconditioning and recycling ha aparegut primer a REVERSE OSMOSIS MEMBRANES REGENERATION .

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.

Other related news

TECNOAQUA
https://www.tecnoaqua.es/noticias/20250709/lequa-ecomemb-gestion-circular-membranas-agua

AGUAS RESIDUALES
https://www.aguasresiduales.info/revista/noticias/una-jornada-sobre-la-gestion-circular-de-membranas-hzFho

LEQUIA
https://lequia-udg.com/2025/06/27/una-jornada-sobre-la-gestion-circular-de-membranas-para-el-tratamiento-de-agua-reune-a-mas-de-70-personas-en-girona/

Other information of interest

ECOMEMB receives the award of the National Innovation Prize granted by the Generalitat of Catalonia.

L'entrada Workshop on circular membranne management for water treatment ha aparegut primer a REVERSE OSMOSIS MEMBRANES REGENERATION .