NATUCER takes part in the REBIABLE project as a ceramic membranes manufacturer which will be used with the Membrane Biological reactor (MBR) to reuse water.
The MBR technology has been widely regarded as one of the most innovative and efficient technologies for the urban and industrial residual water management. Even so, it has sometimes been considered as a forbidding technology for its high operation and investment cost compared to other mainstream filtering technologies. Currently, only when high quality levels of residual water are demanded by law and cannot be reached by mainstream filtering technologies, Public Administrations and private institutions regard the MBR Technology benefits.
Throughout the REBIABLE project, the operation and investment costs are meant to be reduced with commercial membranes. To achieve that goal, it will be necessary to service, install and prove a competitive ceramic membrane biological reactor (C-MBR) for the urban and industrial residual water management, by reducing the initial costs linked to the membranes and their optimization. Therefore, the physical-chemical membrane properties will be modified so they should have properties to prevent them from the dirt ("anti-fouling") and its maintenance can be reduced. On the one hand, this can be reached by chemical modification of the membrane surface to increase its hydrophilicity and hence, reduce the grip of the biofilm; and, on the other hand, it can also be achieved by adding a biocidal product to the membrane composition which reduces the biofilm build-up.
Both the operating validation and the ceramic membrane manufacturing of the C-MBR will be performed on a pre-industrial scale. A previous pilot scale service of both processess will be performed.
NATUCER, S.L. is the company in charge of the ceramic membrane manufacturing on a pre-industrial scale; FACSA, is the project coordinator in charge of the C-MBR validation on a pre-industrial scale; the Aragon University Institute of Engineering of Zaragoza University will be responsible for the study of the C-MBR operating variables on a pilot scale and finally, the University Institute of Ceramic Technology of Jaume I University in Castellon, will be the centre in charge of the materials and ceramic compositions adaptation for the ceramic membranes development on a laboratory scale and, eventually on a pre-industrial scale.
The project with the file number RTC-2015-3485-5, has been cofunded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitivity and by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). The funding was approved by the Research State Program Collaborative Goals meeting in the framework of the Innovative, Scientific and Technical Research State Plan 2013-2016.