EPrints IMDEA Water Institute
Not a member yet
1133 research outputs found
Sort by
Recycled-Membrane Biofilm Reactor (R-MBfR). A sustainable biological alternative for microcystin removal
No full textEste trabajo de tesis doctoral se centra en el estudio de un nuevo sistema biológico avanzado que permita potenciar las capacidades metabólicas microbianas para eliminar eficientemente las Microcistinas (MC), compuestos producidos por los afloramientos de cianobacterias en agua dulce y altamente tóxicos para los animales, seres humanos incluidos. Además, el desarrollo de un sistema económico y sostenible es una prioridad en este trabajo; por lo tanto, se utilizan materiales reciclados como soportes para el crecimiento bacteriano. Concretamente, se usan membranas de osmosis inversa (OI) al final de su vida útil, que fueron desechadas por plantas desaladoras. El sistema innovador que se propone se basa en la tecnología de los reactores de biopelículas de membrana (MBfR), utilizados en el agua residual, y se denomina en este trabajo reactor de biopelículas de membrana reciclada (R-MBfR). El desarrollo del concepto R-MBfR comenzó con la evaluación y selección de los diferentes genotipos bacterianos para la degradación de MC. Los resultados indicaron que el genotipo mlr- es más lento que el mlr+ en todas las condiciones probadas. Por lo tanto, se seleccionó la cepa bacteriana Sphingopyxis sp. IM-1 (mlr+) por su alta eficiencia para eliminar MC bajo diferentes condiciones de nutrientes. Una biopelícula inicial se desarrolló en membranas desechadas gracias a características claves para el anclaje bacteriano, como la hidrofilia y la rugosidad. La prueba concepto en una celda simuladora de los MBfRs consiguió eliminar 2.000 veces la concentración máxima de MC permitida en agua de consumo (1 ¿g·L-1). Este resultado, junto con un análisis económico preliminar, sugirió que el concepto R-MBfR podría ser viable y competitivo a escalas superiores frente a otros tratamientos fisicoquímicos actuales. Por otro lado, el proceso de cloración demostró que la modificación superficial de ciertas membranas podría ser beneficiosa para el desarrollo de biopelículas. Asimismo, todas las membranas de desalación recicladas permitieron el flujo de aire a través de ellas. Por lo tanto, el uso de estas membranas compuestas recicladas ofrecería una superficie sostenible y a bajo coste, óptima para la aireación a bajas presiones y sin burbujas. Posteriormente, las membranas recicladas también fueron capaces de desarrollar biopelículas multiespecie en el medio natural durante un afloramiento de cianobacterias. La comunidad bacteriana estuvo compuesta por una amplia diversidad de taxones y se encontraron la mayoría de las bacterias degradadoras de MC descritas hasta ahor
Electroactive Biochar for Large-Scale Environmental Applications of Microbial Electrochemistry
No full textLarge-scale environmental applications of microbial electrochemical technologies (MET), such as wastewater treatment, bioremediation, or soil improvement, would be more feasible if bioelectrodes could be fabricated with simpler materials. Biochar with potentially improved electroactive properties (e-biochar) can be an ideal candidate for this scope, being at the same time widely available, biocompatible, and fully recyclable at its end-of-life as a soil amendment. Here we review the application of biochar to MET, to set benchmarks aimed at tuning the electroactive properties of such materials from the point of view of MET. The precursor biomass, thermochemical process conditions, and pre-, in situ-, and/or post-treatments should tailor optimized combinations of electrical conductivity, capacitance, superficial redox-active and electroactive functional groups, porosity distribution, and capacity to host electroactive microbial communities. We also discuss methods to rigorously characterize e-biochar properties and the most relevant multidisciplinary research challenges toward its application in large-scale MET
Caracterización hidrológica de la cuenca del rio Chicamocha en Colombia, con el programa Hydro-BID
No full textChapter 24. Electroactive Biochar: Sustainable and Scalable Environmental Applications of Microbial Electrochemical Technologies
No full textIntroducing the H2020 AQUACROSS project: Knowledge, Assessment, and Management for AQUAtic Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services aCROSS EU policies
No full textThe AQUACROSS project was an unprecedented effort to unify policy concepts, knowledge, and management of freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems to support the cost-effective achievement of the targets set by the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020. AQUACROSS aimed to support EU efforts to enhance the resilience and stop the loss of biodiversity of aquatic ecosystems as well as to ensure the ongoing and future provision of aquatic ecosystem services. The project focused on advancing the knowledge base and application of Ecosystem-Based Management. Through elaboration of eight diverse case studies in freshwater and marine and estuarine aquatic ecosystem across Europe covering a range of environmental management problems including, eutrophication, sustainable fisheries as well as invasive alien species AQUACROSS demonstrated the application of a common framework to establish cost-effective measures and integrated Ecosystem-Based Management practices. AQUACROSS analysed the EU policy framework (i.e. goals, concepts, time frames) for aquatic ecosystems and built on knowledge stemming from different sources (i.e. WISE, BISE, Member State reporting within different policy processes, modelling) to develop innovative management tools, concepts, and business models (i.e. indicators, maps, ecosystem assessments, participatory approaches, mechanisms for promoting the delivery of ecosystem services) for aquatic ecosystems at various scales of space and time and relevant to different ecosystem types
The intrinsic resistome of Klebsiella pneumoniae
No full textMolecular epidemiology studies aiming at understanding the acquisition of antimicrobial resistance by clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae are regularly published; however, information on the genes that contribute to its characteristic phenotype of resistance to antibiotics (intrinsic resistome) is scarce. To fill this gap, a K. pneumoniae transposon mutant library was screened and 171 mutants presenting changes in their susceptibility to antibiotics were selected, in which the transposon insertion site was determined in 75. Twenty-seven mutants for which insertion points had been previously identified were included in the analysis. A total of 102 mutants were selected for further studies. In 70 mutants the transposon was inserted in a gene with a known function, whilst in 19 the insertion occurred in genes encoding proteins with unknown functions and 13 insertions occurred in intergenic regions. Moreover, 87 of the insertions were localised in the chromosome, with 15 insertions located in the two plasmids carried by this strain. Whereas some of the mutated genes are already known to be involved in antimicrobial resistance (ampG, acrB, tolC), several of them are involved in regular processes of bacterial physiology, including K. pneumoniae virulence. Together with results published for other organisms, these results support that determinants involved in basic processes of bacterial physiology may contribute to antimicrobial resistance. These findings also indicate that, besides acquired resistance genes, plasmids may harbour other genes belonging to their backbone that can also be involved in resistance
Low-cost datalogger intended for remote monitoring of solar photovoltaic stand-alone systems based on ArduinoTM
No full textA low-cost datalogger intended for stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) systems in developing countries was designed employing open source software and hardware. The low-cost datalogger is capable of measuring electrical and meteorological parameters meeting the accuracy requirements established by the International Electro-technical Commission (IEC) standard for PV monitoring systems. The new datalogger allows the installation of the monitoring system in areas deprived of telecommunications networks, storing data in SD card and requiring minimal maintenance. A real stand-alone PV (SAPV) system similar to those employed in developing countries was installed at IMDEA Water Institute facilities (Madrid, Spain) for testing and validating the new low-cost datalogger under real conditions. The results demonstrated compliance with the IEC standard, monitoring all of the requested parameters with high accuracy and low power consumption
Heat-treated optimized polysulfone electrospun nanofibrous membranes for high performance wastewater microfiltration
No full textRecycling of end-of-life reverse osmosis membranes: Comparative LCA and cost-effectiveness analysis at pilot scale
No full textReverse Osmosis (RO) is the most extended desalination technology implemented worldwide. However, RO desalination has some environmental challenges that must be resolved in order to comply with the circular economy principles. RO membranes have a short service life of 5–10 years, generating 14,000 tonnes annually of membrane waste that is landfilled yearly. In this work two pilot designs for recycling end-of-life (EoL) RO membranes are evaluated with LCA and cost effectiveness analysis. The study includes different types of transformations depending on: i) EoL RO membrane type (brackish water (BW) or sea water (SW)) and ii) recycling product (nanofiltration (NF) or ultrafiltration (UF)). Substitutability formulas were adapted to membrane technology and service life data gap. Therefore, two new indicators (minimum service life and service life ratio) were developed and estimated from the ILCD-Midpoint impact results of the recycling process and the avoided products. Cluster analysis was applied in contribution profiles for category grouping. LCA results show that the recycling process using the passive system (PS) has lower environmental performance than the active system (AS) in all the categories. The most environmentally interesting transformations are the BWRO into NF and UF and from SWRO into NF. The transformation from SWRO to UF does not seem to be technically competitive due to the low recycled membrane permeability evidenced during the LIFE-TRANSFOMEM project. Cluster analysis shows that the most relevant flows were NaClO, bisulphite and electricity use. The cost of the recycling process with the PS is €25.9–41.5/module, whilst using the AS is €54.5–73.75/module