Ceit-IK4 Technology Center
Ceit-IK4 is a private multidisciplinary non-profit research centre located in Donostia-San Sebastián (Spain), with 250 employees and an annual budget of 16 M€. The Centre’s main aim is to carry out applied industrial research projects through close collaboration with industrial R&D departments on a contractual basis.
Ceit-IK4 institutional presentation: CEIT-IK4. Institutional presentation (PDF, 1.43 MiB)
Ceit-IK4 annual report: 2014
Ceit-IK4 corporate video:
The Area of Environmental Engineering is involved in the artICA4nr project. The Area’s scientific and technological development work is focused on the application of the most advanced methods in mathematical modelling and experimental analysis for the design, operation and control of water and sludge treatment technologies as well as for integrated water management.
The report of the Area of Environmental Engineering can be found here: Report (PDF, 146 kiB)
Role in the project
As project coordinator, Ceit-IK4 is in charge of all the project management and control activities required to guarantee the successful and punctual completion of the project’s objectives.
Ceit-IK4’s contribution to the project is also appreciable in the activities related to the use of models and simulations to configure the art-ICA controllers, and to the experimental validation of this control product.
Ceit-IK4 is also the leader of the project’s dissemination, which is aimed especially at marketing the art-ICA controllers and making potential customers aware of this solution.
Mondragón Sistemas de Información sociedad cooperativa
MSI-Grupo belongs to Mondragón Corporation (Spain), one of Europe’s largest industrial corporations. MSI-Grupo is an automation and electrical engineering company dedicated to turnkey projects in:
- Water treatment: wastewater, drinking water and desalination.
- Metal processing lines: cutting lines, galvanizing lines, tension levelling lines.
- Automatic quality inspection systems: electric transformer laboratory, brake disks tester, gas heater tester.
All projects are turnkey projects and can include the following activities: electrical engineering, process automation, sensor installation and cabling, process optimization for energy efficiency, production control systems and system integration on site.
Role in the project
As owner of the art-ICA controllers, MSI-Grupo’s objectives in the artICA4nr project are to implement the art-ICA controllers in the three WWTPs chosen for the replication activities and to monitoring and objectively quantify the environmental and economic benefits for easy calculation of the return on investment (ROI).
In addition, in parallel with the replication activities, MSI-Grupo will help with the exploitation and dissemination activities in order to develop the business plan for the art-ICA controllers and they will try to identify new replication opportunities for the product in the market.
Canal de Isabel II Gestión SA
CANAL is the utility company responsible for managing the water cycle in the region of Madrid (Spain). The company’s main goal is to ensure customer water supply in quantity and quality, while actively contributing to the protection and improvement of the environment for the benefit of society.
Given this aim, more than 2300 workers manage with maximum efficiency an infrastructure that uses a sewer network with 750 km of pipes to connect 150 urban wastewater treatment facilities with the capacity to serve an equivalent population of 17 million inhabitants, more than 70 wastewater pump stations, and 40 storm and equalization tanks.
Role in the project
The great variety of sizes and spectra of processes carried out in the wastewater treatment plants operated by CANAL in the region of Madrid constitutes the perfect framework for validating the art-ICA controllers.
CANAL provides operation and maintenance (O&M) services at the two plants that will be used in artICA4nr to evaluate the market potential of the art-ICA controllers in the wastewater industry. Therefore, the involvement of CANAL in the project is crucial in order to ensure that the O&M of these two plants will proceed in accordance with the requirements for the art-ICA controllers to be correctly validated.
Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia – Universidade Nova de Lisboa
FCT is one of the nine units of the New University of Lisbon (UNL), with 7500 students and 540 scientific staff members. The Biochemical and Process Engineering Group (BPEG) at FCT/UNL conducts research on water and wastewater treatment processes, the valorisation of wastes, and membrane technology for product recovery and filtration processes.
BPEG is part of the Department of Chemistry at FCT/UNL, which is part of the REQUIMTE network, the largest Portuguese Chemistry and Technology Network, and includes the New University of Lisbon and University of Porto. REQUIMTE is a partnership that exploits the basic principles of Green Chemistry and Clean Technologies and Processes with the aim of contributing to the practice of Sustainable Chemistry.
Role in the project
FCT/UNL will quantify the performance of the art-ICA controllers in the Chelas WWTP (Portugal) and contribute to the dissemination activities. In both cases, FCT/UNL has prior experience in national and European-level projects.
Saneamento integrado dos municipios de Tejo e Trancao SA
SIMTEJO is a leading company operating in the environmental sector in Portugal and its mission is to contribute to the pursuit of national objectives for wastewater collection and treatment within a framework of economic, financial, technical, social and environmental sustainability.
SIMTEJO currently exploits a system that includes 29 WWTPs, 74 pumping stations and 250 km of main sewage system, and it treats around 118 Mm3/year, serving a population of 1.5 million inhabitants in the northern area of Lisbon.
Role in the project
SIMTEJO will provide operation and maintenance services at the Chelas WWTP to evaluate the market potential of the art-ICA congtrollers in the wastewater industry. Therefore, SIMTEJO’s involvement in the project is crucial in order to ensure that the operation and maintenance (O&M) at this plant will proceed in accordance with the requirements for the art-ICA controllers so they can be correctly validated.
SIMTEJO is also participating in the development of the business plan and the dissemination activities. Because SIMTEJO is a subsidiary of Águas de Portugal, this will permit to identify the potential of new replication opportunities for the product in Portugal.
