THE BIODAPH REACTORS ARE ALREADY UNDER CONSTRUCTION AT THE QUART WWTP IN GIRONA

The LIFE BIODAPH2O project (LIFE21-ENV-CA-BIODAPH2O) is co-financed by the European Commission’s LIFE program dedicated to environmental protection and climate action. This project has allowed the construction of 2 pilot eco-efficient tertiary treatment reactors and enough with nature – BIODAPH – to treat 40% of the waste water of the Quart WWTP. The BIODAPH reactors will make it possible to reduce the pollutants discharged into the Onyar River and, therefore, increase the chemical and ecological quality of the aquatic ecosystems of this river, which are currently severely affected by the drought.

Specifically, BIODAPH technology is based on the purification capacity of daphnia (also called “water fleas”, specifically of the Daphnia magna species), microalgae and biofilm to remove pollutants from water. This treatment is characterized by being very compact, having low energy consumption, not producing sludge or using chemicals for its operation and producing regenerated water of good quality

Figure 1. BIODAPH reactors built at the wastewater treatment plant in Quart, Girona. On the left you can see the lamellae that will allow the growth of bacterial and algae biofilms on the surface.

After a few months of construction and installation of the necessary equipment, last October 25 the University of Girona, coordinators of the project, together with Sorigué reported that the 2 BIODAPH reactors installed in parallel have already have put into operation. The waste water from the secondary treatment of the WWTP already flows to fill the system (Figure 1). From now on, it will be necessary to wait a month for the biofilm to form on the lamellae and walls of the reactor, and then the daphnia that have been previously cultivated in an acclimation tank will be inoculated.

Figure 2. Quart WWTP effluent flowing through the BIODAPH reactor

The LIFE BIODAPH2O project is made up of the University of Girona (coordinators), Sorigué, IDAEA-CSIC, the BETA Technology Center and the Catalan Water Partnership (CWP), as Catalan partners, and MINAVRA Techniki and the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) as partners in Greece. It is planned that the BIODAPH reactor installed in Greece will also be put into operation in mid-October, which is in its last phase of installing the necessary equipment. Specifically, the BIODAPH system has been implemented at the Antissa WWTP, on the island of Lesbos, and will allow the production of regenerated water for agricultural irrigation of an adjacent 7,000 m2 plot.