ACCIONA in the advanced water disinfection

Techniques to purify and disinfect water for human consumption have been extensively developed over the past century. Today, ACCIONA is researching new cleaner and safer methods.

Over the last century, water purification techniques have been developed extensively. Defined as the extraction, deactivation or elimination of pathogenic microorganisms, water disinfection has led to a reduction in the number of related illnesses.

Traditional disinfection systems initially were considered harmless to human health. However, with the discovery in the 1960s of byproducts of the elements used for disinfectants such as free chlorine, chloramines, etc., they are potentially dangerous and could include carcinogenic compounds.

To reduce and prevent these effects, the ACCIONA Water Technology Center is working on advanced disinfectants that imply the creation and use of radicals with high oxidation potential that are used to achieve complete limination of byproducts (THMs) in disinfectant processes. These advanced disinfectants have the following characteristics:

• Able to oxidize organic and inorganic material.
• Achieve total or near total mine - ralization of organic contaminants in many cases.
• Able to treat very low concentrations of contaminants measured in ppb (parts per billion).
• Very efficient at bacteria and virus disinfection.
• Used as reactive oxidants that break down into harmless particles.
• Destroy contaminants while preventing them from concentrating or changing the environment.
• Clean and safe technologies.

The success achieved in the research puts ACCIONA at the forefront of water potabilization at a competitive cost. Furthermore, it enhances ACCIONA's positioning resulting from better compliance with the adoption of European Directive 98/83/CE with Spanish legislation, which limited THM concentration to 150 ug/l (lowered in 2009 to 100 ug/l).

The INNPACTO program (MICINN) finances public-private cooperation to boost R&Dactivities

ACCIONA has been awarded all projects presented for the INNPACTO 2011 call for proposals. The eight projects will receive 5.4 million euros in financing.

AThe ESPROFAN and NANOBAC projects seek to reduce greenhouse gases and efficiently eliminate emerging compounds, respectively. The DECOCEL project is focused on the potential of vegetable and wood matter for biomass supply. Meanwhile, the SUPERTURBINES, FLOAT SOLUTIONS, WETSITE and IRHIS projects respectively focus on superconducting wind turbines, offshore structure optimization, offshore site characterization and isolated systems for hydrogen energy production. In the railway infrastructure field, the TRI-PANTALLA project will develop a triple-function screen for wind, noise and power.