The meat sector is key to the Catalan industrial GDP (representing 21.6%), although the treatment of manure has become an important environmental challenge. The DEPURHOB project seeks to turn this externality into a business opportunity by valorizing anaerobic digestion waste using an alternative approach. The proposed process uses purple phototrophic bacteria to reduce organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as hydrogen oxidizing bacteria to convert the remaining nutrients and the CO₂ emitted (after a biogas upgrading process), into valorizable biomass . This integrated approach makes it possible to generate a slow-release fertilizer, obtain regenerated water, minimize CO₂ emissions and reduce the need for external treatments, while closing the nutrient cycle.

The DEPURHOB project, a collaboration between the BETA Technology Center (CT BETA) of the University of Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya and the Chemical and Environmental Engineering Laboratory (LEQUiA) of the University of Girona, both recognized with the TECNIO quality seal, seeks to provide an ecological and viable alternative to current technologies based on physicochemical treatments to manage slurry wastewater. By means of new biological processes, this project aims to manage gaseous and liquid effluents efficiently, taking advantage of the CO₂ and the nutrients present in the anaerobic digestion of manure to obtain organic fertilizers. This integrated approach is framed within a sustainable circular economy model, seeking not only to address the energy and fertilizer needs of the livestock industry, but also to contribute significantly to mitigating the associated environmental impacts.