We are completing the installation of the pilot plant of LEQUIA for struvite recovery from wastewater treatment sludge at the Terrassa WWTP.
This milestone marks an important step within the SPORE-MED project, bringing us closer to demonstrating sustainable phosphorus recovery and circular economy solutions in real operating conditions. 🌱♻️
Looking forward to the next phase!
📣 1st SPORE-MED Dissemination Day – University of Sfax
We are delighted to announce the first SPORE-MED Dissemination Day, hosted by Ksibi Mohamed from the Institut Supérieur de Biotechnologie de Sfax, within the framework of the SPORE-MED Project (PRIMA Partnership).
🗓 Date: November 4th, 2025
📍 Venue: Hotel Concorde, Sfax, Tunisia
🎯Theme: Advancing Circular Economy and Water Sustainability through Academic–Industrial Partnership
This event will gather academics, industry experts, and policymakers to exchange ideas and strengthen collaboration for a sustainable Mediterranean future.
Vincenzo Naddeo, the PI at the Univesity of Salerno, is proud to share a concise overview of their new editorial introducing the Special Issue in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering (JECE), focused on climate- and energy-neutral wastewater utilities. It outlines practical routes aligned with the recast EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, from smarter biology and membranes to AI control and resource recovery. This work is one of the results of the SPORE-MED project and builds on the WaterEnergyNEXUS community.
Read the overview and dive into the full collection for more: LINK
This year as well PRIMA PROJECT DAY 2025 was organized by PRIMA AGENCY in Barcelona on October 1 and 2.
The event brought together PRIMA projects funded in the 2023 and 2024 calls, with the aim of focusing on networking, synergies, and shared learning. SPORE-MED participated in the poster exhibition, which provided an excellent opportunity to share our experiences thus far.
Our partner, LEQUIA (Universitat de Girona), participated in the European Researchers’ Night in Girona. This event connects science with society and inspires the next generation of innovators.
As part of the SPORE-MED project, which is funded by the PRIMA Partnership Program, LEQUIA is helping us rethink the role of wastewater treatment plants in the Mediterranean region. Rather than being the end of the water cycle, these facilities can become centers of sustainability and resilience by recovering valuable resources, enabling safe water reuse, and supporting health surveillance.
The SPORE-MED PRIMA Partnership consortium held its Work Package Leaders’ meeting on September 9th🧩
A productive session to align progress, exchange insights, and reinforce collaboration across all teams. Together, we are advancing towards impactful outcomes for the project’s mission.
Several partners from the SPORE-MED consortium (Institut Supérieur de Biotechnologie de Sfax, LEQUIA, Sostenipra and Sanitary Environmental Engineering Division (SEED)) contributed to the SPORE-MED PRIMA Partnership Special Session at the 7th Euro-Mediterranean Conference for Environmental Integration (EMCEI-2025; https://lnkd.in/dBiYmDxh ) with engaging and impactful oral presentations. Their work highlighted key advancements in sustainable agriculture and environmental resilience across the Mediterranean.
In concrete, our colleague Anna Petit Boix represented our team at the conference in the context of the SPORE-MED project.
💧 For the past few months, Roger Plans i Vilardell, Laura Talens Peiró and Anna Petit Boix have been working on the ハッシュタグlifecycleassessments of the SPORE-MED technologies dedicated to energy and nutrient recovery in wastewater treatment plants. We collaborated with Oriol Carbó Monmany and Marta Campabadal from GS Inima Environment to conduct a theoretical energy balance and environmental assessment of the PROGRAMOX technology for energy upgrades.
⚡ The results are promising! We expect an increase in at least 14% of the energy self-sufficiency of a wastewater treatment plant. The LCA results will be available soon!
UdG also presented their work on phosphorus recovery as struvite. The work was carried out together with Emma Company Masó, Jesus Colprim, and as part of the research efforts of the LEQUIA group, within the framework of the SPORE-MED project.
In addition, the session in featured contributions from another PRIMA Partnership project (WATERMED4.0), making it a valuable moment for exchange, collaboration, and shared learning within the wider research community. A big thank you to all the presenters and participants who made this session a success!
Athina Stavroulaki from the Technical University of Crete presented the latest results on nanobubble technology for removing microplastics from wastewater at the 9th European Bioremediation Conference in Chania, Crete.
Athina and her colleagues from the the university also received one of the Best Poster Awards at the conference. Congratulations!
On June 4th-6th, Sostenipra has hosted the 1st International Life Cycle Assessment Symposium on Nutrient and Water Circularity for Food Production at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The program has been packed with very interesting talks and activities, and it was great to host more than 60 participants from across the world.
Our keynotes gave inspiring talks on:
– current practices and needs in the LCA community (Michael Martin)
– potential futures for nutrient recovery and urban agriculture (Anastasia Papangelou)
– real-world cases of circular water management and footprinting (Desirée Marín) and
– the need for more specific and dynamic characterization factors for the impacts on marine biota and microplastics (Ian Vázquez Rowe)
Many speakers shared their LCA-related research and experiences around nutrient circularity, water management, novel emission factors for agriculture, soil health, verticalfarms, new technologies and their upscaling in cities.
We have learned a lot and connected with a vibrant community! Thanks to all speakers and participants for joining us and until next time!
On Wednesday, June 4th, 2025, we proudly launched a promising collaboration between Institut Supérieur de Biotechnologie de Sfax (Ksibi Mohamed) and IPS Tunisia (part of Group IPS) — a key milestone in our shared mission of innovating wastewater recovery.
Held at the IPS Tunisia office in Sfax, this kickoff meeting set the foundation for our technical partnership under the SPORE-MED project PRIMA Partnership. Together, we’re working to design and implement a pilot unit for struvite production from treated wastewater (TWW) — turning waste into valuable resources for sustainable agriculture and environmental impact.
💧 From ideas to action — this is just the beginning.
