The iMETland project celebrates its Final Conference in Brussels   The consortium of the H2020 project iMETland celebrated the Final Confer...

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The iMETland project celebrates its Final Conference in Brussels   The consortium of the H2020 project iMETland celebrated the Final Conference last Friday 14th December at the Spanish Embassy in Brussels. Policy makers, stakeholders and European professionals working in the wastewater treatment field joined the meeting, which was organised in the context of the Startup Olé event, aimed to promote start-ups in the EU from Spanish and Belgian entrepreneurs. Carmen Mena Abela, Head of Sector H2020 Eco-Innovation at The Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME), welcomed the attendees and congratulated the consortium for the work done and the innovation and competitiveness of the technology. Project coordinator Abraham Esteve-Núñez, together with researchers Arantxa Aguirre-Sierra (IMDEA), Carlos Arias (Aahus University) and Carlos Aragón (CENTA) explained the results of this environmentally friendly way to purify wastewater and its implementation in small communities. The combination of electroactive bacteria with innovative electroconductive material leads to outperformance of classical biofilters, resulting in 10-fold higher depuration rates than classical techniques. Esteve-Núñez explained both the natural side and the smart and innovative side of the iMETland technology that "enhances the interconnectivity of bacteria to purify wastewater. It is a very simple, but innovative method". Santiago Otero from PWC Spain showed the key characteristics of iMETland that makes the project " an attractive waste water technology with great commercial potential" : high sustainability impacts in terms of CO2 reduction and water savings, user friendly and a very simple but innovative technology and cost-efficient. iMETland project aims at unleashing the small community economies potential through innovative wastewater treatments technologies, creating a virtuous circle connecting water, energy, ICT, land resources and safeguarding the environment. The project has been tested and validated at four different geographical locations: Mediterranean (Spain), North-Europe (Denmark), South-America (Argentina) and North-America (Mexico). The consortium is led by Spanish IMDEA WATER and is composed by 11 partners from 4 different EU member states and two associated countries (Argentina and Mexico): Foundation CENTA, Aqua-Consult Ingenieros, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Piroeco Bioenergy (Spain); Aston University (United Kingdom): Aarhus Universitet and Kilian Water (Denkmark); the European research media center, youris.com (Belgium); INTEMA (Argentina) and IMTA (México). Life beyond the project After the successful outcome, iMETland results will go beyond the project life. As announced during the meeting in Brussels, the spin-off company METfilter will participate on the recently funded European Project Horizon 2020 ELECTRA (Electricity driven Low Energy and Chemical input Technology foR Accelerated bioremediation). This recently approved 4-year project involves the participation of 17 universities, research centres and companies in the EU and China. The project aims at improving bioremediation of ground waters, wastewater as well as sediments and soil, using innovative approaches based on bioelectrochemical technologies, potentially having a low energy and contamination impacts on site.  Video release During the event, the communication agency youris, a member of the consortium, premiered t he final video that summarizes the achievements of the project: "This is our story and our  contribution for a water-wiser society". The video can be watch here. The iMETland project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 642190.   Report this

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