Wastewater from agro‑food industries and small communities often carries high organic loads and nutrients that strain conventional plants, elevating energy and chemical use, sludge generation, and operating costs while limiting options for safe reuse in water‑scarce contexts. Mechanized treatments also depend on continuous power and specialized maintenance, making them impractical for remote or seasonal sites and misaligned with landscape integration and biodiversity objectives. With tighter effluent standards and circular water goals, many facilities still lack scalable, low maintenance solutions to polish effluents for irrigation, aquifer recharge, or tertiary treatment without expanding carbon footprints or budgets.
The GEMMA group from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) has developed customized constructed wetland systems for treating high-organic-load wastewater through natural filtration and phytoremediation. These systems provide low-maintenance, energy-efficient, and sustainable purification while enhancing biodiversity and enabling water reuse. The group offers services in design, sizing, optimization, and technical supervision of the system, while the execution and installation are carried out by the client.
Benefits of this technology:
- Nature-based treatment that minimizes energy use and avoids chemicals while ensuring robust wastewater purification.
- Minimal operational and maintenance costs after installation, with simple upkeep that does not require specialized personnel.
- Treated water suitable for reuse in irrigation, aquifer recharge, or other compatible applications.
- Ecologically integrated infrastructure that enhances local biodiversity and supports circular-economy objectives.
The represented institution is seeking to validate the interest of the industrial sector and attract potential clients who wish to apply this know-how in their facilities.
Institution: Grupo de Ingeniería y Microbiología del Medio Ambiente (GEMMA) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Contacto: Ana Carlota de la Cruz / a.cruz@viromii.com