Aigües de Barcelona, a public-private company responsible for managing the water cycle in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, Spain, has started a series of pilot projects with NX Filtration’s direct nanofiltration membranes.
The objective of the first pilot project is to treat water from the Llobregat river in Barcelona to produce drinking water. Since Barcelona is situated in a water stressed and densely populated region, Aigües de Barcelona has identified direct nanofiltration (dNF) as a technology that can significantly simplify the treatment of surface waters.
These surface waters have posed challenges due to their variability in quality, mainly due to seasonal impacts. The company hopes to reduce processing steps, energy use, and chemicals consumption, while using as little space as possible. To achieve this, Aigües de Barcelona’s pilot will aim for better recoveries with a smaller footprint than the current conventional technologies used.
“Compared to conventional water treatment technologies, direct nanofiltration could provide high quality water whilst reducing the number of filtration steps, thus simplifying the treatment of surface water and saving space,” said Eva León González, Innovation, Investigation and Technology Manager at Aigües de Barcelona. “In addition, this technology also provides various advantages in terms of sustainability, as it reduces energy consumption and avoids the use of pre-treatment chemicals.”
The pilot campaign is based on NX Filtration’s full-scale “Mexpert” pilot system and is expected to run for approximately 15 months. Aigües de Barcelona continues to promote innovation projects through partnerships to advance the ecological and social transition, prepare for future challenges and improve the quality of life of people and the health of the planet.
