- Water treatment
Efficient water use and resource recovery in industry
Technological solutions to optimise water use, recover valuable resources and anticipate new regulatory frameworks for water sustainability.
Efficient water use and resource valorisation
Efficient water management has evolved from an approach focused exclusively on wastewater treatment towards an integrated model combining reduced consumption, reuse and the recovery of resources present in industrial liquid streams.
In a context marked by water stress, rising operating costs and an evolving regulatory framework, industry needs solutions that not only minimise its water footprint but also recover value from components present in wastewater, moving towards circular economy models.
At AINIA, we support companies through this transition, developing and validating technological solutions for efficient water use and resource recovery, tailored to each production process and aligned with the sector’s current and future challenges.
In a context marked by water stress, rising operating costs and an evolving regulatory framework, industry needs solutions that not only minimise its water footprint but also recover value from components present in wastewater, moving towards circular economy models.
At AINIA, we support companies through this transition, developing and validating technological solutions for efficient water use and resource recovery, tailored to each production process and aligned with the sector’s current and future challenges.
Market need
Industrial and agri-food companies currently face several key water-related challenges:
- High water consumption in production processes and cleaning operations.
- Generation of complex waste streams containing organic loads, salinity, nutrients or specific compounds of interest.
- Need to reduce discharge volumes and the costs associated with their treatment.
- Untapped opportunities for resource recovery (salts, nutrients, organic compounds or reclaimed water).
- Adaptation to an evolving regulatory framework that incorporates criteria for efficiency, reuse and water traceability.
- Preparation for future sustainability certification and recognition schemes, such as the forthcoming “water label”, currently under regulatory development.
Our solution
At AINIA, we develop comprehensive solutions that combine water efficiency and resource recovery, based on:
- Advanced water audits of processes and liquid streams.
- Identification of critical points of water consumption, wastewater generation and valorisation potential.
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Design and validation of technologies for:
- Reduction and optimisation of water consumption.
- Internal reuse of process water.
- Selective recovery of resources contained in liquid streams (salts, nutrients, phenolic compounds, proteins or other valuable fractions).
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Aplicación de tratamientos avanzados:
- Membranas (UF, NF, ósmosis inversa, EDI, EDBM).
- Procesos físico-químicos y de separación selectiva.
- Intercambio iónico, adsorción y tecnologías híbridas.
- Experimental validation at laboratory and pilot scale.
- Techno-economic assessment and decision-making support.
Our approach is sector-specific and results-oriented, prioritising circularity and the overall efficiency of the system.
Applications
AINIA’s solutions are applied in:
- Reduction of freshwater consumption in industrial processes
- Reuse of process and cleaning water
- Advanced treatment of complex effluents
- Recovery and valorisation of resources present in wastewater
- Reduction of pollutant loads and discharge costs
- Design of integrated water circular economy strategies
- Preparing companies to meet future requirements linked to water sustainability certifications and recognition schemes, such as the water label currently under development
Impact and benefits
Implementing solutions for efficient water use and resource recovery makes it possible to:
- Significant reduction in water consumption and discharge volumes.
- Reduction in operating costs associated with water treatment.
- Creation of new valorisation opportunities from liquid streams.
- Improvement in environmental performance and sustainability indicators.
- Greater resilience to water scarcity scenarios.
- Anticipation of future regulatory and water certification requirements.
- Strengthening the company's positioning in sustainability and the circular economy.
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Daniel Rivera
Head of Physicochemical Processes
