Researchers from the IMDEA Water Bioe Group participate in the European Trineflex project, a ground-breaking proposal whose objective is to improve the self-sustainability of treatment plants using AI. Bioe’s work focuses on the implementation of IoT Biosensing® biosensors as tools to improve energy management in the treatment plant. The WWTP of Alcantarilla, Murcia, managed by the Esamur, the sanitation and purification entity of the Region of Murcia, is one of the scenarios chosen as a pilot plant, and where the tests with the biosensors will be carried out.

Trineflex aims to develop more sustainable techniques in different energy-intensive (EII) industries – wastewater treatment, glass, copper, and aluminum – each facing common and unique challenges. To this end, artificial intelligence and big-data techniques will be used with the implementation of digital twins, which will in turn be integrated into decision support systems.

Researchers from Bioe and the TRINEFLEX project during the visit to the WWTP of Alcantarilla on May 30

In the water field, research seeks the self-sustainability of treatment plants by transforming industrial processes with high energy consumption, reducing them through process improvements and the use of renewable energy. By IoT Biosensing®, monitoring strategies will be developed, “interrogating the microorganisms present in the wastewater” to sustainably optimize the operating expenses of the plant, according to Abraham Esteve-Núñez, head of the Bioe Group.

With a budget of close to 20 million euros and a duration of four years, Trineflex is coordinated by the Aimen innovation and technology center and consists of a consortium of 29 partners from 11 countries.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 101058174 “Trineflex.”