We develop technologies that improve wastewater treatment and urban industrial waste recovery processes, transforming waste into new added value products as well as promoting circular economy. The development of specific sensors for tracking, monitoring and control of pollutants is a complement that guarantees the efficiency of new treatment technologies and the compliance with existing regulations. Each new process or product can be assessed and compared with another existing one, from the environmental, economic and social perspectives, in order to promote resource efficiency at all levels and provide tools to support investment decisions.
Our research lines are focused on:
- Waste treatment and valorization
Reuse and recycling of waste. Addition of waste to new added value materials. Waste-to-energy processes, namely production of biogas via anaerobic (co)digestion of organic waste.
- Municipal and industrial wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment technologies based on natural systems such as constructed wetlands, biologic processes (anaerobic digestion) and advanced oxidation processes (ozonation). Wastewater treatment sensing, monitoring and control.
- Life cycle assessment (LCA). Carbon footprint
Life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle cost analysis (LCCA), social life cycle assessment (S-LCA). Carbon footprint and water footprint.
- Development of optical technologies for monitoring and control of environmental processes.
Development of optical, photonic and image-based sensors for the detection, monitoring and control of pollutants and environmental processes.