STRATEGIES FOR THE RECOVERY OF UREA FROM WASTEWATER: TECHNICAL, ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL FEASIBILITY

The present innovation project consists of a technical feasibility study that aims to evaluate the applicability of the combination of different disruptive technologies in order to overcome a key challenge in the textile and water treatment industry: environmental improvement and economical in the treatment of waste water enriched in nitrogenous compounds such as urea (widely used in the textile sector in cellulosic fabric stamping processes). The innovative technologies that will be evaluated will be, on the one hand, membrane separation technologies and, on the other, electrochemical elimination technologies, complementary to the treatment of urea.

This project, therefore, will improve the conventional technologies currently used and will analyze the technical, economic and environmental requirements necessary for a future pilot plant that combines the technologies analyzed in the treatment of waste water from both the textile industry and others industries with similar needs. In addition, it will analyze the recycling potential of the separated and recovered urea for later use in the textile industry or others.

The project combines the expertise of three entities specialized in the treatment of waste water and in the development of treatment technologies (the Universitat de Politècnica de Catalunya-BarcelonaTech (UPC), Water Control and Maintenance (CIM Aigua) and Hydrokemos (HYK) accompanied by the Catalan Water Partnership (CWP) which will ensure the dissemination of the results of the project, the transfer of knowledge and the search for potential funding avenues for the continuation of the project in the future.

The present project (File No.: ACE057_22_000018) is financed under the Call for Competitiveness Reinforcement Initiatives (IRC) 2022 – ACCIÓ