The Chair of Transformation of the Economic Model of the Valencian Government and the Universitat de València (GVA-UV) and the CALAGUA-UV research group of the School of Engineering (ETSE) are working, within the Spanish HOLIWATER network, on the application of innovative technologies with the aim of sustainably recovering resources from wastewater and sludge components.

This task is crucial in the current context of depletion of natural resources, which requires a clear commitment to the circular economy. In this case, its purpose is to extract clean water, energy, nutrients and chemicals; in addition, it aims to adopt a new multidisciplinary perspective in terms of environmental and economic sustainability to implement this strategy in Wastewater Treatment Plants.

Francesc Hernández, Head of the Chair of Transformation of the Economic Model (GVA-UV), and Alberto Bouzas, coordinator of the CALAGUA-UV group, are the two representatives of the Universitat de València in the Spanish HOLIWATER research network. This network, formed by 14 groups of research experts belonging to 12 Spanish entities, aims to strengthen the quality and visibility of the R+D+I activities in the field of resource recovery of the individual partners.

The work of the network members will last for two years and its experts will rely on plant schemes based on a complete redesign of existing treatment plants. In addition, they will focus on their integration tools (such as integrated plant models) and they will analyse their costs and benefits, as well as their lifecycle and decision support tools.

In fact, HOLIWATER has successfully developed and implemented innovative technologies aimed at resource recovery and production of high quality reusable water. It also aims to organise workshops and symposia to discuss new projects, as well as to implement training activities for the scientific sector such as technical courses and international summer schools.

In addition to the Universitat de València (UV), HOLIWATER is formed by CEIT-BRTA, CETAQUA, CIEMAT-PSA, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), and the Universities of Girona (UdG), Granada (UGr), Santiago de Compostela (USC), Valladolid (UVa) and Oviedo (UniOvi). It is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation in the framework of the State Programme to Promote Scientific and Technical Research and its Transfer, within the State Plan for Scientific, Technical and Innovation Research 2021-2023.