The project "Research of technologies for the intelligent and sustainable management of the water cycle in hotels" (WATERTUR) is about to be completed after 36 intense months of work. The project, coordinated by the Water Cluster of Catalonia (Catalan Water Partnership) and in which a technological center focused on industrial improvement (LEITAT) and 5 companies (Sorigué, Anthesis Group, SERHS Hotels, Fluidra and AERIS Environmental Technologies) also participate, Its main objective is to develop new technologies to optimize, value and reuse consumed wastewater, with special emphasis on the recreational area. It is intended, therefore, to investigate advanced innovative solutions in the field of wastewater treatment, the evaluation of its environmental profile, the monitoring and calculation of the water and carbon footprint in real time of the integral water cycle and systems. decision-making for the hotel's recreation and wastewater area.

AERIS, a spin-off of the UAB, has been in charge of the design, construction and operation of the AnMBR demonstration plant, aimed at treating and reusing wastewater and producing energy from these waters. The plant consists of a UASB-type anaerobic biological reactor and an ultrafiltration membrane module, and has been installed at the Hotel Rural Vilar Sant Hilari for operation for 3 months. In the first stage, the UASB reactor, the organic matter present in the wastewater is eliminated at the same time as biogas (a green fuel) and a certain amount of sludge are produced. In the second stage, the solids are separated to guarantee a higher quality of discharge and to enable their reuse. The main challenge of the WATERTUR project is the final implementation of these technologies in the tourism sector.

Throughout the operation, efficiencies for the elimination of polluting organic matter of the order of 85% have been achieved, generating biogas and sludge that can be used in agriculture.

The knowledge acquired in the execution of the project will allow, in the near future, to have proven technologies to manage the water cycle in tourist facilities in a much more circular and sustainable way.

For more information, consult the AERIS website: http://aeris.es/