Raúl Pradana defended on July 15 his doctoral thesis entitled “Generating biomass with reclaimed water: Opportunity for the circular bioeconomy”, research that addresses the applicability of Green Filters as a nature-based solution for the treatment of wastewater from the brewing industry while producing biomass, as an example of circular economy in an industrial environment. The aim was to identify the key processes and parameters that occur in the Land Application Systems during treatment, and to develop a phased experimental procedure that is replicable to address the applicability of these systems in different contexts.

To carry out this thesis, different experiments have been carried out at laboratory scale, in greenhouses and in the field, performing characterization tests of the water to be treated, selection of plant material belonging to the Salicaceae family or identification of possible soil amendments to be applied in these systems.
The results support the usefulness of the experimental procedure when testing the applicability of the Green Filters in other contexts and, in the case of the brewery industry, high attenuation percentages have been achieved in multiple pollutants present in their wastewater, and several poplar and willow genotypes have shown to be able to develop and produce biomass in this context.

This thesis has been carried out in the framework of an industrial doctorate between the company Eulen S.A., INIA-CSIC and the research institute IMDEA Water, thanks to the grant IND2019/AMB-17191 funded by the Community of Madrid. The thesis is part of the Interuniversity Doctoral Program in Hydrology and Water Resources Management of the Universities of Alcalá and Rey Juan Carlos.