Participants
- University of Almería
Contacts
Tomás Lafarga (tomas.lafarga@ual.es)
Funds:
Junta de Andalucía (Ayudas para desarrollar soluciones innovadoras frente a la sequía)
Current Situation:
In progress
Summary
The current water deficit calls for improved water management through conservation and efficient reuse. Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) remove pollutants, but microalgae-based treatment systems represent a paradigm shift by recovering nutrients—transforming consumption-driven processes into productive ones that yield treated water, biomass, and reduced emissions, all with very low energy consumption.
The RE·USE project aims to optimize wastewater treatment using microalgae, enhancing the design and operation of photobioreactors in Spain. Improvements will be implemented in system turbulence, automation, and control.
Given that food production will need to double by 2050, the project will focus its outputs on agriculture: microalgal biomass will be validated as a biostimulant and biofertilizer, and the regenerated water will be used for irrigation in commercial greenhouses. The entire process will be sustainable—free of solvents and waste generation.