• The contract, awarded by the public company Agència Catalana de l’Aigua, is for four years and approximately €13.7 M

ACCIONA has been awarded a new contract in Catalonia for the operation and maintenance of the six wastewater treatment plants that make up the Sanitation System of the Abrera group.

The contract, awarded by the public company Agència Catalana de l’Aigua, is for four years and approximately €13.7 M.

It includes the operation and maintenance of the six WWTPs at Abrera, Castellbell i El Vilar, Monistrol de Montserrat, Viladecavalls Est, Viladecavalls Oest and Vacarisses. Overall, the plants provide a service to a population equivalent of almost 200,000, with a throughput of around 47,600 m3/day. The sanitation network has more than 70 kilometres of pipework plus 16 pumping stations external to the plants.

The contract will include major technological innovations to optimize energy efficiency, changes to infrastructures that have deteriorated over time, and another non-energy functions. The aim is to ensure the correct functioning of the facilities and the quality of the water treated.

Among the measures to be undertaken in the Abrera WWTP is the construction of a platform for the reception of dehydrated sludge from other WWTPs that are not equipped with sludge stabilisation. This means that the sludge from these plants can be stabilised in the anaerobic digestion phase following their rehydration, with a resulting reduction in dry material and increased energy production from biogas. Once stabilised, the sludge can be valorised through use in agriculture.

With the aim of adapting the Abrera WTTP to this new scenario and ensure compliance with effluent quality requirements, ACCIONA will also implement a series of measures aimed at improving the control systems, optimising the biological elimination of nutrients and increasing the production of biogas in anaerobic digestion. Among these measures are some of its own technological innovations developed by the R&D&I department of ACCIONA such as NIPARMOX® for the treatment of return flows.