Agamed collaborates in a project to advance the circular economy and sustainability of the integral water cycle

The Valencian Agency for Innovation, through its Strategic Cooperation Projects programme, has granted aid, co-financed through FEDER Funds, to support the development of new technologies that favor the reuse of sludge from purification for agricultural use. The project, which will promote progress in sustainability and the circular economy, essential in the management of the integral water cycle, will be developed under the coordination of the company Ingeniería Y Desarrollos Renovables, with the collaboration of AGAMED, Genia Bioenergy, and the Valencian Center for Irrigation Studies (CVER) of the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

For years the company AGAMED has been reusing 100% of the sludge from purification for the production of energy and its use in agriculture. In the last year, of the 9,023,918 kg of sludge produced at the Torrevieja Treatment Plant, 73% was used for agricultural applications.

The total project is valued at €500,000 to be assumed by the different entities. In the case of AGAMED, the subsidy will mean €37,000, 40% of the total cost that the company will assume, which amounts to €93,000. During the next three years the entities will work on the investigation of a pasteurization solution, which allows the elimination of pathogens to guarantee that recycled organic materials are safer for use in agriculture and horticulture. In addition, this process will improve the quality of the soil.

To date, agricultural recovery is carried out in three different ways: by direct application on the land (the most common), after a composting process and after a thermal drying process through which a material perfectly usable as organic fertilizer is obtained. in agriculture.

“The current European scenario, increasingly demanding in sludge management, seems to be toughening the conditions for the agricultural application of sewage sludge. Hence, AGAMED seeks to go one step ahead and has proposed this project in order to continue positioning itself at the forefront of sustainability and the circular economy through new technological solutions”, says Jorge Ballesta, AGAMED's managing director.

The purpose of this research is to continue advancing in the sustainability of the integral water cycle in Torrevieja and share the results obtained with the European Community so that they can be applied by other municipalities that are committed to the recovery of sludge for agricultural use. .