Oriol Carbó Monmany has been one of the two researchers from GS INIMA awarded with the Botín Foundation “M. R. Llamas Award to Young Talent in Sustainable Water Management” for his research developed in an industrial doctorate with LEQUIA research group. The prize was awarded at a ceremony on Thursday 12th December at the Fundación Botín headquarters in Madrid.

The award-winning project addresses the environmental and economic sustainability of urban wastewater treatment plants through the reduction of their energy consumption. According to some estimates, wastewater treatment accounts for 3% of global electricity consumption, which entails significant associated emissions of greenhouse gases and economic costs. GS INIMA, a world leader in the water sector, has collaborated with LEQUIA research group of UdG to develop a new sanitation configuration called PROGRAMOX® capable of reducing this consumption by 44%. This reduction is achieved thanks to a lower need for oxygen supply and a greater production of biogas.

Oriol Carbó’s doctoral thesis focused on the optimization of two key processes of the PROGRAMOX® setup on which LEQUIA had previously worked: partial nitritation in a granular aerobic reactor and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox). Both treatment processes aim to eliminate excess nitrogen compounds and avoid the harmful effects they can have on water quality, such as eutrophication. The researcher carried out experiments at LEQUIA laboratories and in a pilot plant specially built by GS INIMA to study the entire PROGRAMOX® configuration. This plant, with a capacity to treat 1.5 m³ per day, was located at the La Garriga urban wastewater treatment plant and operated with wastewater from this facility.

The industrial doctorate project co-financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science has allowed both the research group and the company to acquire new knowledge and expertise in the field of wastewater treatment. The doctoral thesis was directed by two researchers from academia (Jesús Colprim and Albert Magrí) and by a researcher from GS INIMA (Belén Gutiérrez). The good results obtained encouraged to continue collaborating to implement them at full scale. Both entities are currently participating in the SPORE-MED international project led by the UdG and financed by the PRIMA Foundation, within which a demonstration plant for PROGRAMOX® technology will be built at Terrassa wastewater treatment plant, in Catalonia.

The Botín Foundation’s Water Observatory is the first interdisciplinary water think tank in Spain. Created in 1998, it is characterized by a rigorous scientific level, which combines natural sciences with economics and social sciences, with the explicit aim of offering ideas and contributing data that are relevant in decision-making. The Young Talent Awards, which are celebrating their tenth edition this year, were created with the desire to recognize the work carried out by young professionals and researchers in the field of sustainable water management.

This is the fourth time that a LEQUIA researcher has received an award from the Botín Foundation’s Water Observatory. In 2014, Sebastià Puig was recognized for his work on the remediation of nitrate-contaminated water using bioelectrochemical systems. Four years later, in 2018, Hèctor Monclús received the award for optimizing water treatment stations using artificial intelligence tools. Finally, in 2021 the Botín Foundation recognized Raquel García-Pacheco’s work on the recycling of reverse osmosis membranes for water treatment; a technology currently exploited by the spinoff Ecomemb S.L. These four recognitions position our research group at the forefront of eco-innovation within water management and treatment.