ALGATEC2

The ALGATEC II project is a demostration activity based on the promissing results fo the FP7-SME-2008 ALGATEC project (contract n. 232331). During the ALGATEC project, both the lab and field-scale experiments proved that the system was efficient in removing the pollution load of olive mill washing water (WW) and producing water of drinking quality, that could be reused in the process. However, under the current market status in the main olive oil producing countries, the cost of this technology seemed to be quite high to be implemented in a commercial product. The innovative and easy to operate and maintain system developed, based on; a pre-treatment, a photobioreactor (PBR), and two different configurations of membrane modules, was tested using WW stored in an evaporation pond. For treating this WW, more concentrated than the fresh WW, hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 3 days were needed, and this fact increased the final price of the m3 of treated WW. The decreasing of the HRT together with other potential improvements already identified to increase the system efficiency and make it more competitive in the market, are the driven force of the proposed project. 5 European SMEs, from 3 EU countries, 4 partners of the ALGATEC project, together with a new SME especialised in market studies, will work in the optimisation of the system by implementing improvements in the pilot plant located in Spain) to increase the treatment capacity working with fresh WW and better conditions with regards to light, temperature and materials for the PBR, optimising the membrane module by replacing expensive materials, re-designing it, and improving the energy efficency. The control system for both, PBR and membranes, would be optimised to decrease, among others, the labour costs associated to the system O&M. All these measures will lead in the ALGATEC II system, more competitve in the market and that would mean the opening of new market opportunities for the participating SME.