Assessment of the economic and environmental impact of technologies for the treatment of wastewater and other waste, as well as the study and evaluation of new alternatives to reduce the economic and environmental impact in the wastewater treatment sector, through the application of the Life Cycle Assessment Tool. This tool makes it possible to evaluate the sustainability of different technologies, both from an economic (LCC, Life Cycle Costing) and environmental (LCA, Life Cycle Assessment) point of view. These tools serve as a basis for the development of Decision Support Systems (DSS) for decision-making in the design and monitoring of treatment systems.
Fundamental and applied limnology: Dynamics and functioning of epicontinental aquatic ecosystems. Community structure and functional diversity. Assessment of environmental and conservation status. Microbial ecology in lentic ecosystems: Study of the composition and functionality of the microbial community by molecular techniques. Metagenomics. Metabarcoding and e-DNA Biogeochemistry and carbon balances in Mediterranean wetlands, fluxes of carbonate greenhouse gases. Effects of environmental properties and conservation status on the climate change mitigation capacity of lentic ecosystems. Ecotoxicology. Geographic information systems (GIS). Remote-sensing. Polar limnology.
Microbiological study of wastewater treatment systems by applying both basic techniques, such as observation by phase contrast or differential staining, and molecular techniques, including FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridisation) or qPCR (quantitative polymerase chain reaction). Study of biological systems from the point of view of microbial diversity, applying massive NGS (next-generation sequencing) techniques.
Development of strategies for more sustainable processes and products, in particular in the chemical, materials and food industries. It also includes dissemination and training in current aspects of bioeconomy, circular economy, climate change and life cycle analysis.
