UNIDAD DE APLICACIONES SOLARES TÉRMICAS

Intelligent water treatment technologies for water preservation combined with simultaneous energy production and material recovery in energy intensive industries (INTELWATT)

Participants: NCSR (Coordinator), CNR, CNRS, PPC, WG, TH KOLN, UoB, POLITO, CUT, BIA Group, Fuelics, IHE DELFT, Studio Fieschi, TECHEDGE, ACSA, UJ, REDSTACK, CIEMAT, Nijhuis Water, NOKIA GREECE.

Contact:  Guillermo Zaragoza, guillermo.zaragoza@psa.es

Funding agency: European Commission, H2020-CE-SPIRE-01-07-09.

Background: The project will develop innovative, cost-efficient, smart separation technologies applied in energy- and water-intensive industries. Three case studies in electricity production, mining and electroplating facilities will demonstrate water preservation along with energy production and material recovery. The proposed solutions will also target zero liquid discharge while implementing maximum water reuse.

Objectives: CIEMAT participates in case study 2 in Castellgali (Barcelona), where a pilot plant will be built which will consist of an integrated reverse electrodialysis (RED) system and membrane distillation powered by solar energy to valorise a collector of brine from mining activities, with the aim of producing electrical energy and deionized water.

Achievements in 2021: Design of the solar membrane distillation pilot plant that will be implemented in CS2, comprising a plate and frame module with 4 effects in a multi-effect configuration using vacuum. Set-up of a laboratory system to test the different membranes that will be evaluated in the first phase of the project, including hollow fibre membranes which have never been tested before at PSA. Results so far do not improve on flat-sheet membranes.