Bluewater Bio Intl. announced that it has successfully installed its first wastewater treatment pilot plant in Spain. Bluewater Bio is developing the project with Aqualia Gestion Integral del Agua S.A. (aqualia), a leading water company in Spain.
The pilot plant, now commissioning at a municipal site in Ávila, is expected to serve as a reference for the subsequent implementation of this system in other aqualia facilities. The HYBACS technology uses the naturally occurring bacteria bacillus to remove nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter from a wide variety of wastewater streams to produce a high-quality, odorless water resource that can be reused in many applications such as agriculture and industry.
“The Spanish wastewater treatment market has immense potential for expansion and represents a key market for Bluewater Bio,” said Daniel Ishag, CEO of Bluewater Bio. “Aqualia is one of the world’s largest wastewater companies and we are delighted to have achieved this latest milestone for HYBACS as aqualia’s first unit is installed in the Ávila plant. We are looking forward to working with aqualia to roll out the technology throughout Spain, a country with a severe requirement to conserve and reuse water. Further afield, aqualia is working with us on consortium bids in the Middle East and beyond, leveraging its position within global infrastructure giant Grupo FCC which manages water and wastewater related projects in over 850 municipalities on five continents.”
Fernando Moreno, director general of aqualia, said, “We are pleased that the first HYBACS pilot plant in Spain has now been installed at Ávila and that commissioning is progressing well. Aqualia operates wastewater treatment plants across the globe and, therefore, the ability of Bluewater Bio’s HYBACS process to significantly reduce both our capital and operational expenditure is extremely attractive to us. In addition, the technology can potentially be retrofitted into many of our current plants, enabling aqualia to comply more cost effectively with the increased nutrient removal requirements in Europe. We see tremendous potential for the use of HYBACS both in Spain and further afield, and are excited to work with Bluewater Bio to bring this leading technology to our plants.”
Spain for years has been grappling with a severe water shortage problem. The Spanish Environment Minister, Elena Espinosa, has pledged to promote the reuse of treated wastewater in sectors such as agriculture, and has launched a National Plan for Water Reuse to triple the level of wastewater reuse between 2010 and 2015.
Source: Bluewater Bio Intl.
